My Lady Mischief Read Online Free PDF Page B

She gazed down at the warm pink pig and tickled his chin. "Isn't he the most darling pet?"
    "That darling pet is a nuisance and a menace. He'll soon be weighing more than you, Miss, and don't you forget it."
    Carrying her basket and piglet, Thea walked toward the door as Mrs. Smith called out, "You'd best return that pig to his mama, Lady Althea, where he belongs."
    Mrs. Smith simply didn't understand, thought Thea, as she wandered through the kitchen gardens to make her way to the barns. She cooed to her piglet, "Papa said I might have a kitten or a puppy as a pet, dear one. But they are too ordinary, aren't they?"
    Uncle Egbert grunted a piggish answer.
    "You, my precious, need someone to look after you. Being the runt of the litter is never easy. It's no wonder the others mistreat you since you are so much more clever than they. I'll do my best to help you, but you'll have to behave. No more roaming through the house or persisting with your practical jokes, or we'll both find ourselves in the suds."
    She eyed the piglet, looking to see if he were indeed the reincarnation of Uncle Egbert, as Miss Mimms asserted. They did share a number of common traits, but surely it wasn't possible. Her piglet was simply more clever and amusing than the run-of-the-mill variety.
    Reaching the barns, she set down the basket and slipped a ribbon from her hair. "There, dear, this will set you apart from your greedy brothers." She carefully tied a bow about his neck. The grey circle surrounding his left eye, as well as his small size, also set him apart, but she hated to mention it for fear he might be sensitive about the subject. She planted a kiss on his rosebud snout then nudged him into place beside his mother.
    From there, basket swinging from her arm, Thea ambled into the flower garden. In a few short months, the rosebushes would be covered in glorious blooms. She had hoped to be wed to Charles by that time. Papa was being awfully difficult to convince. She suspected that a portion of his disapproval was based upon his animosity toward Charles' father, Squire Fossbinder. The long-term resentment had been founded upon a competition between the two men over who produced the finest pigs in the county.
    Recently, a misunderstanding had arisen about the paternity of one of the squire's litters. The earl suspected that, without his permission, the squire had used one of his pigs as stud. Tensions had escalated as a result, along with threats of legal charges of pig-napping and slander.
    However, the Fossbinders were the Candlers' closest neighbors and it was necessary that a truce prevail, unhappy though it might be. Each gentleman delighted in trading barbs and digs at the other's expense while maintaining a falsely friendly relationship. Thus, it was doubly difficult for Thea to convince her Papa to accept Charles as her suitor. To Papa, the squire was untrustworthy and therefore it followed that the squire's son was as well.
    None of her previous plans to persuade her father had succeeded. As she tried to fix on a new strategy, she gathered the daffodils that bloomed profusely on this sun-filled morning.
    After placing an especially beautiful blossom in her basket, Thea heard the scrunch of footsteps upon gravel and looked up to see an oddly dressed man approaching. Instead of the usual top hat, or even a bicorne, his hat was flat-crowned and broad-brimmed. And, although there was nothing particularly wrong about his clothing, there was a decided difference which she could not define.
    Thea realized this must be their American guest, Mr. Paul McCormack.
    He was an attractive man, of average height but with a very erect stance which made him appear quite tall. He removed his hat and his brown hair ruffled in the light breeze as his mild blue eyes smiled in greeting.
    "How do you do?" Thea asked. "You must be our American."
    With an amused bow, he answered, "Yes, indeed. I am Paul McCormack. At dinner last night, Lord Steyne mentioned a young