My Lady Notorious Read Online Free PDF

his hands in a gesture of surrender, and followed the
sisters into the aromatic kitchen. He wondered how long it would be
before someone made an irremediable mistake and revealed Charles to be…
what? Charlotte? He eyed the frosty-faced girl. ‘Charles’ suited her
much better than ’Charlotte.‘
    Nana beamed to see him free, and tried to settle him at the head of
the table. “No, no,” said Cyn, gesturing toward Charles. “This must
surely be your seat, sir, as head of the family.” He smiled at them
all, blatantly using his considerable charm. “Am I to be favored by the
family name?”
    “No,” said Charles bluntly, taking the place. “Be grateful you’re getting your food.”
    Nana placed a large pan of rabbit stew on the table.
    “Wonderful food too,” Cyn said with a blissful smile.
    Nana beamed. “It’s so satisfying to feed a man.”
    Cyn turned a quizzical look at Charles. “But you stripling lads in the peak of your growth are usually voracious eaters.”
    Charles turned red. “I am not a stripling lad.”
    “My dear sir, my apologies. I know some men are slow to grow a beard…”
    “Let me serve you, my lord,” said Verity hastily, and heaped a large portion of stew on his plate. “Potatoes?”
    Cyn nobly forbore to tease for the rest of the meal.
    “Now,” he said as they sat with cups of tea, “why don’t you tell me what you’re up to so I can help?”
    “Why should you want to?” asked Charles stonily.
    “I told you, I crave adventure. I cannot exist without it. I’ve always wanted to be a knight-errant.”
    It was Verity who responded. “But why do you think I am a damsel in distress, my lord?”
    He looked at her. “Are you not?”
    She smiled sadly. “Damsels are usually maidens, and I am certainly not that, but I
am
in a certain amount of distress…”
    “Don’t, Verity!” said Charles sharply. “Don’t trust him.
Why
must you always be so trusting? If you tell him, he’ll side with the rest of them.”
    “What else are we to do?” Verity asked. “We need someone to help with the coach, and I’d feel better with…”
    Cyn could hear the words
with a man to help us
hover in the
room, and saw the glare in Charles’ eyes. Was it simply a case of one
of those tedious hoydens who wanted to be a man? He hoped not.
    “You’d feel better with someone older,” he supplied smoothly. “My
dear Charles, don’t poker up. It’s clear you are doing your best to
support your sister in whatever trouble has befallen her, but it is
never wise to refuse a genuine offer of help. I must be close to ten
years your senior, and have experience you lack. If you tell me where
you wish to go, I will do my best to get you there safely.”
    “Maidenhead,” said Verity firmly. “My promised husband, Major Nathaniel Frazer, is stationed there.”
    Was he the father of her child? Cyn wondered. She wore a wedding
band, but that could be false. “That should present no problem. I must
admit,” he hazarded, “it doesn’t appear to present any problem at all.”
    “Except money,” drawled Charles.
    “Ah. Hence the highway robbery.”
    “Quite.”
    No one seemed ready to offer him more information, so Cyn probed
again. “I understand the appeal of traveling in my very comfortable
coach, but acquiring it presented certain risks. Wouldn’t it have been
wiser to settle for the stage, or even those two thoroughbreds you were
riding?”
    “The horses weren’t ours,” explained Verity, “and if we kept them
the fat would be in the fire. I do agree, however, that the stage would
have been more prudent.”
    “Yes,” said Charles abruptly. “You’re right. Tomorrow we’ll use his
lordship’s coach to take us into Shaftesbury, and we’ll purchase seats
on the stage.” She turned cold eyes on Cyn. “If, that is, we can trust
you thus far, my lord.”
    “You can trust me to hell and beyond,” he said simply, “but only if
you allow me a place in your adventures. I will not