Love and Larceny Read Online Free PDF Page A

spectacles,
but did his duty. “Miss Courdebas, may I present Mr. Brooks
Sheridan. We were at Eton together.”
    Mr. Sheridan took her gloved hand and bowed
over it, his grip as sure as his manner. “Miss Courdebas, a
pleasure. Any woman who can manage her horse so well under trying
circumstances has my everlasting admiration.”
    “Not so very trying,” Daphne said, retrieving
her hand. “I knew Wynn would be fine. The worst part was when you
tried to grab my reins. Rather rude, actually.”
    She thought she saw Wynn hide a smile even as
Mr. Sheridan blinked in surprise.
    “My apologies, madam. Allow me to say that
had I known I was up against an Amazon, I would never have dared to
interfere.”
    Amazon. It was a common sobriquet applied to
her. It meant a woman of uncommon valor and athletic abilities.
While she knew she dared what some other girls might fear, she
thought any number of other ladies might have earned the name, had
the gentlemen just paid more attention.
    “I suggest you listen for cries of ‘help’ and
‘mercy me’ before attempting a rescue in future,” Daphne told him.
“Or perhaps ‘I am an idiot on horseback.’ Failing that, I’d leave
the lady to her own devices. She might surprise you.”
    “You certainly have,” he said.
    Wynn laughed, then turned the noise into a
cough.
    Sheridan looked his way. “So what brought you
to Somerset, Fairfax? Visiting relatives?”
    “I have the honor of escorting Miss Courdebas
to a house party with the Earl of Brentfield,” Wynn replied as
their horses, now calmed, bent their heads to nibble the grass.
“These are his lands.”
    He almost made it sound as if Mr. Sheridan
was trespassing.
    The Corinthian struck his hand to his
forehead. “I thought those trees marked the dividing line between
Prestwick Park and Brentfield. But when I saw Miss Courdebas
struggling with her horse—”
    “Ahem,” Daphne said, scowling at him.
    He inclined his head. “That is, when I
mistakenly thought I saw Miss Courdebas struggling with her horse,
I could not sit idly by. I only wish I had an excuse to tarry in
the area, for I find it of uncommon beauty.” He gazed at Daphne for
a long moment, and she suddenly realized he was flirting.
    He liked her. As a woman.
    She beamed at him. “A shame indeed. It’s a
wonderful area for riding, and Lord Brentfield has his own archery
field and bowling lawn. I warrant a gentleman like you could do
both justice.”
    He smiled, showing straight white teeth in a
face that hinted of being kissed by the sun. “Ah, a lady after my
own heart. I’d be delighted to partner you in any sport, my
dear.”
    Now his voice had taken on a decidedly husky
quality. She’d rarely heard it from the fellows thronging her
sitting room, but she knew it was meant to put a lady into instant
transports. Better and better.
    “Too bad you must leave,” Wynn put in. “But
we wouldn’t want to detain you.”
    She wanted to detain him. Handsome, well
spoken, bruising rider—why wouldn’t she want to know more about
Brooks Sheridan?
    “I have it!” she cried. “You can join
us!”
    *
    Wynn’s stomach sank even as Sheridan’s smile
widened. The fellow was the same sort of gentleman who routinely
looked down on Wynn for his injury. And he certainly didn’t need
the Corinthian cozying up to Daphne.
    Especially when Daphne showed every
indication of wishing to cozy back.
    Her
cheeks were pink now, her blue eyes sparkling. She tucked an errant
strand of golden-brown hair behind her ear as if self-conscious of
her looks. She seldom did anything like that in his company. He
wanted to pick her up, throw her on the horse, and ride off with
her before Sheridan agreed to her offer. But he knew his leg would
not stand up to the challenge, and neither would his friendship
with Daphne.
    “You are too kind, Miss Courdebas,” Sheridan
was saying in that deep voice that set the ladies to sighing. “But
I could not impose on Lady Brentfield.”
    “He