My Lady Scandal Read Online Free PDF

said lightly. ‘Can I not persuade you both to come to a gathering at my house in Mount Street on Friday night? I would be honored to introduce you back into Society.’
    Nell wanted to protest; it was too soon, she wished to plan the occasion in greater detail, it was too risky ! But Perry was already accepting the invitation, assuring him that they would look forward to the event. And truly, it was the perfect entrée, a ball to launch them into London life. Never mind back into it; they had never entered in the first place.
    Carlisle returned his cup to the table and rose to his feet. ‘Well, I fear I have trespassed on your time long enough.’
    Perry stood as well. ‘It was a pleasure to meet you, Carlisle.’
    ‘I look forward to Friday.’ Carlisle looked down at Nell, dark eyes glinting. ‘I must count the trip worthwhile if I have persuaded you both to reenter the tedium of Society. I only hope that you will both forgive me when it begins to pall.’
    Nell also rose to her feet. ‘You do not seem to hold it in very high regard, Sir. I wonder that you would hasten our entry into it.’
    His smile was entirely too charming. ‘Oh, well… a pleasure shared, Miss. Marriott. I cannot have all the fun now, can I?’
    Perry walked him out while Nell sank back into her chair thoughtfully. That had been… interesting. After a few minutes, her brother returned, holding up a hand as if to ward off an imaginary blow. He quirked a smile at her. ‘ You were the one that suggested it!’
    She acknowledged this ruefully. ‘I know. It was just so sudden; I was taken aback. What did you think of him?’
    ‘Carlisle? He seems decent enough.’
    ‘Yes. You do not think it strange, him appearing so soon after you were shot?’
    Perry looked amused. ‘You think him a spy for the Watch or the magistrates? Surely not; the man reeks of good ton.’
    ‘I suppose so.’
    Still, she was not entirely satisfied. For all his languor there had been something peculiarly alert about the man. She shook her reservations off because Perry was right; this was exactly what they needed. They would appear as Carlisle’s guests – the son of an earl and so imminently respectable – and they would mingle with the beau monde .
    ‘We will be sure not to take too much,’ she said, rising to her feet, ‘and only from the very, very rich.’
    ‘I appreciate your sensibilities,’ Perry returned gravely. ‘God bless the very rich!’
     
    It was, undoubtedly, his midnight assailants. Not that it had been midnight when they had struck, but his lordship thought ‘midnight assailants’ had a nice ring to it.
    Grif rode away from Holly Oak Hall with a sense of achievement. He had worked hard for this. True, it had only been the second house he had visited, thanks to the questions he had asked at the first, but in the course of his enquiries, he had been forced to sit with three girls of marriageable age and their mother, an event he was sure he would live to regret. He hated to get peoples hopes up unnecessarily and the girls – all three of them – were plate faced and buck-toothed. One had even boasted spots.
    Not his type at all. He preferred the frivolously attractive to the solemnly frowsy. It was possibly his greatest flaw.
    Fortunately, Mama Plate Face had managed to move past her astonished delight at his presence and had settled to gossip about the local families, the most scintillating being that the Marriotts had finally returned to Holly Oak Hall six months before. Not the elder Marriotts, oh, no. But Lord Peregrine Marriott and his sister, Eleanor. They were yet to go out into Society, having suffered the loss of their parents on the Continent, but, surely, that period would soon be over.
    Carlisle smiled his satisfaction; it would be over sooner than the good matron knew, thanks to his machinations.
    He thought of the pair as they had stood beneath the oak tree, two peas in a pod, lit with the golden light of a delicious Autumn