Never Kiss a Laird Read Online Free PDF Page B

one of her acquaintance.   She would be shocked, and appalled, but not necessarily surprised that
Miss Denham would behave so irresponsibly.   The girl had such a temper, so impatient of
rules, and had always been very forward.
    Simon Atherly gaped at the matron,
while Sally hissed at him to set her down.   When he finally did so, Sally quickly straightening her gown, and pulled
her cloak firmly about herself.   She was
unaware that her red-gold curls were tousled messily from sleeping in the
chair, one tendril falling down across her shoulder, and that her blaze of
anger had left a lovely flush on her cheeks that was open to misinterpretation.
    “Lady Greenly,” she blurted in
consternation, very aware that it behooved her to tread warily.   To be found in such a compromising situation
and by the biggest gossip in the entire village was the sheerest misfortune imaginable.
    “I am shocked, Miss Denham,” the
matron informed her in gleefully outraged tones.   She could barely keep the grin from her
face.   “What would your Papa say to see
you here in such a way.   And Simon Atherly.   For shame!”
    Simon, a travesty of his urbane
smile on his face, opened his mouth to speak, but no words emerged.
    A positive giggle escaped Lady Greenly.   Sally’s temper finally came to her
rescue.   “There is nothing untoward going
on, Lady Greenly,” she assured the happy matron in quelling tones.   “My horse was lamed, and I stopped here to
wait for my servant to come in the gig.   Something must have happened to delay them, and I passed the night
here.   Alone.   Mr. Atherly arrived but a few minutes before
you and offered to convey me home.   It’s
really very simple.”  
    Lady Greenly nodded with false sympathy.   “Just as you say, my dear,” she
tittered.   She exchanged a glance with
her husband, who had finally extricated himself from the carriage.   A look that plainly showed
her disbelief and glee.
    For the third time that morning
Sally heard a conveyance pull into the posting house yard.   If it was not Tom this time, Sally was
determined to walk the whole way back to the Manor.  
    She pulled her cloak more closely
about herself, putting up one hand to brush her disheveled curls back.   The very tardy Tom pulled the gig into place
behind the Greenly’s carriage, and jumped down.
    “Miss Sarah, I am ever so glad to
see you,” he exclaimed.   “There was ever
so much trouble up at the manor.”
    “That’s fine, Tom,” Sally said,
with a quelling look.   “We’ll discuss it
at home.”   Her forced smile softened the
words, and Tom let down the step to hand her up into the gig.
    Sally turned with one foot on the
step, casting an appealing glance at Lady Greenly.  
    “I am sure I can count on your
discretion in this matter, Lady Greenly,” she said hopefully.   “My presence here last evening was the result
of an accident to my carriage, as you can see by my groom’s presence.   Mr. Atherly arrived just before you yourself,
and offered to escort me home.”
    Lady Greenly’s face assumed a look
of false understanding, and she clucked her tongue sympathetically.   “I understand completely, Miss Denham,” she
assured Sally in saccharine tones.   “I
wouldn’t betray your confidence for the world.   You can rely upon my discretion!”
    But Lady Greenly had not kept her
word.   Whisperings began immediately, and
then louder rumors.   Sally, who had been
the most sought-after partner in the neighborhood, was left without a single
partner at the next ball she attended.   Her
mother, who had great hopes for finding a brilliant match for her daughter,
started to realize that her daughter would be lucky with any match at all.   She banished her daughter to the schoolroom
at Denham Park, and it was there she came to find
her on the day that Sally made her fateful decision.
    Lady Denham was still a very
handsome woman at fifty years of age.   Of
her three children, she was