Mary Balogh Read Online Free PDF Page B

the expression. Olivia had used to glow like that.
    “Mama,” Sophia was saying, “the fountain looks quite breathtaking in the moonlight. Do you remember that from when Grandpapa used to live here? You should come outside with us. You should come with Papa.” She laughed and turned toward him. “What better chaperons could there be, after all, than my parents?”
    “I think your mother is probably tired from her journey, Sophia,” he said.
    “And yet,” Lord Francis said with a bow, “there is nothing better calculated to lull one to sleep than a short walk outdoors before retiring. Is there, Lady Clifton? Won’t you come?”
    There was a brief silence.
    “Olivia?” the earl said and found himself almost holding his breath. “Would you care for some fresh air?”
    “Thank you,” she said after another brief pause. “I think that would be pleasant.”
    “I shall send up for your cloak, then,” he said.

    “L OOK BACK WHEN you have the opportunity,” Sophia said. “Not now. Casually, just as if you are looking at the stars. I cannot look without seeming very obvious. Are they walking together, Francis? Are they talking? Don’t do it now or they will think I have asked you to do so.
Not now!
”
    Lord Francis had turned his head over his shoulder without any attempt at casualness or subterfuge.
    “She has her arm through his,” he reported. “They are not talking. At least they were not when I looked. But perhaps one of them had just stopped speaking and was pausing to draw breath while the other had nothing to say.”
    “I said not now,” she hissed at him. “They will think we are spying on them.”
    “If I had only thought,” he said, “I would have brought my telescope out with me. Except that I did not bring it with me to Clifton, of course. And now that I come to think of it, I do not possess one at all. I shall slink across into some bushes if you wish, Soph, to observe the proceedings. Do you think they will miss me? I don’t know how they could when Lady Jennifer is shrieking with such mirth. Whatever can Hathaway be saying to her, do you suppose?”
    “This is all a joke to you, is it not?” she asked. “My mama and papa are together for the first time in fourteen years and all you can do is talk about stupid things like slinking off into bushes. Do you ever take anything seriously?”
    “I do, Soph,” he said. “I would worry about getting my knee breeches snagged by thorns.”
    “Oh!” she said, tossing her head.
    “I think it is time for a melting glance,” he said. “We cannot have them thinking that our ardor has cooled. Ithink we have done remarkably well so far, don’t you? I don’t know about you, Soph, but I am giving serious consideration to going on the stage.”
    “You might as well,” she said tartly. “You would be close to all your actresses.”
    “Smile, darling,” he said seductively, turning his face sideways in order to give an image of his profile to those walking behind them and smiling dazzlingly down at her. “Come on, Soph. It is worth a mint to see you do it.”
    She turned her head to look up into his eyes and smile slowly and meltingly. He bowed his head a fraction closer and looked down at her lips.
    “Don’t you dare,” she said, her expression not changing at all. “If you want your cheek smacked and your nose flattened and your eye blackened, just come half an inch closer, Francis.”
    His face moved perhaps a quarter of an inch closer. “That is quite far enough,” he said. “Not that your threats would deter me if I really were tempted in even the smallest way to steal a kiss, Soph. But I have a distinct feeling that your father’s fist might cause my nostrils to part company with each other if I did.”
    They both turned their heads to face the front again, the radiant smiles fading as they did so.
    “What next?” he asked. “My parents are already planning wedding journeys and drawing up guest lists and wondering which