Regina Scott Read Online Free PDF Page A

moved. Her straw bonnet was covered with a profusion of ribbons and silk flowers, making it look as if she had brought spring with her. The earl himself looked more somber, dressed in a navy coat and buff-colored breeches above gleaming boots.
    “You don’t seem to have thrown off yesterday’s events as easily,” he said. “If I may, Miss Price, you look tired.”
    Was that concern in his voice? Why should hecare? “And do you flatter all the young ladies this way, my lord?” Meredee countered.
    He chuckled, a warm rumble that was hard to resist. “I’m afraid I’m not good at doing the pretty. Some other fellow would quote you poetry or the Bard. ‘She walks in beauty like the night,’ or some such.”
    “I’ve never been all that much for poetry,” Meredee admitted. No, it’s more likely quiet concern that will be my undoing.
    “That we have in common, then. What do you prefer to read?”
    Meredee eyed him. His head was cocked, and the light through the windows touched his sandy hair with gold and highlighted the planes on his face. Nothing in his look or his attention said he was teasing her. How extraordinary! But she doubted he’d look so attentive if he knew the truth. Most men would be aghast at her reading material. Even her stepmother turned up her nose. Only one other man had ever listened to her prose on, and she’d done her best to forget him. She would be safer admitting to the occasional gothic novel, which she did enjoy.
    “Ah,” he said just as she realized she had probably been silent too long. “Perhaps you prefer not to read.”
    She refused to leave him with that impression. “Most likely I read too much, my lord. I love history, and the latest scientific discoveries. I recently founda copy of Mr. Humboldt’s treatise on his travels to the equatorial regions of the South American continent. It was most inspiring.”
    She waited for his eyes to glaze over, to hear him murmur polite excuses and hurry away as generally happened when she shared her pastimes. But he merely leaned closer, his eyes lighting. “And do you adhere to his theory that the earth’s magnetic field varies between the poles and the equator?”
    “He was most persuasive, though I should like to see his observations duplicated on the African continent. Flora and fauna would be more of a challenge there, I think.”
    He straightened and beamed at her, suddenly looking as young and carefree as Algernon. “My thoughts exactly. And what of more practical matters? Are you a staunch supporter of Hannah More or do your tastes run to Mary Wollstonecraft?”
    “Must it be one or the other? Mrs. More instructs us to read the Bible and think on how we can best serve the Lord. Mrs. Wollstonecraft insists that only a woman who uses her intelligence can truly find her purpose. I do not see that the two contradict each other.”
    He laughed. “I’d like to see you explain that to them.”
    She couldn’t help but smile. “I suppose they would find a great deal to argue about. What of you, my lord? Which do you find more useful?”
    His gaze traveled to where his sister was even now blushing as a tall, angular young man bowed over her hand. “The Bible guides us in our lives, but every woman should use her intellect to ensure her future. Excuse me, Miss Price.”
    She curtsied, but he was already striding across the room to his sister’s side. As Meredee watched, the gawky youth paled, stammered and then stumbled way from Lady Phoebe, who turned to her brother, mouth drawn in a tight little bow.
    “What did he want?” Mrs. Price begged, hurrying up to Meredee, breaths coming in little pants. “Does he suspect?”
    Meredee shook her head. “No. He talked only of science and philosophy.”
    “Science?” Her stepmother drew a breath that swelled her lacy bodice. “I would not have thought him capable of it.”
    Across the room, the earl took his sister’s arm and drew her toward the door that led to the wells. “Just