Rescuing Rosalind (Three Original Ladies and Their Gentlemen) Read Online Free PDF

leaving his ship. What would the future bring? She may chafe at her bridle, but Rosalind was a lady. There was only one course open to him if he wished to claim her for his own. And in addition to his childhood memories, Buck had always had a sea captain’s natural distrust of marriage. Many a man had been betrayed while he was at sea.
    But his life was no longer a sea captain’s. And the changes brought about by that fact were many. Used to commanding men of all different classes and backgrounds, he had found the ton distressingly homogenous. Thinking of this, he changed his mind about going home and decided to pay a visit to the handful of his seamen who lived in the East End. He would stand them all drinks and see how they were getting on. Life was difficult for them since the war had ended. The sea was the only life they knew.
    He pulled his phaeton up in front of the lodgings he had purchased for them. To his dismay, he heard sounds of a fight through the open front door. At the very moment he set his feet on the street, a large man was expelled from the opening to land at Buck’s feet. The door slammed. When the man clambered to his feet and stood, Buck saw that it was Seaman Hawkins. His nose was bloodied and probably broken.
    “What is this?” Buck asked the heavily muscled Hawkins.
    “Bliddy nora! Hafter all we been frew togever, ‘e sez as ‘ow I pinched ‘is baccy.”
    “And did you?”
    “I never! You knows me better ‘n that, Capting.”
    “I thought I did. Have you had any luck finding a job, Hawkins?”
    The seaman looked away and coughed. “I ‘aven’t. I ‘elps hout at the market for pennies, just to feed meself. Fanks to you, Capting, I ‘as a roof hover me ‘ead, which is more than I can say for a lot o’ blokes what sleeps in the street.”
    Buck made a decision on the instant. Hawkins had been a good seaman, showing not only unquestionable loyalty but initiative, as well. “Do you think you could live in the country?”
    “I dunno. Hain’t never been there.”
    “I’ve come into property. You were a good ship’s carpenter. Let’s go have a drink and talk about your working for me in Kent.”
    Hours later, Buck exited the East End pub, having engaged the first of his cottagers to work under his estate manager to begin putting the cottages in repair. He took Hawkins to the mail coach and paid his fare to Deal. The man carried a letter to his estate manager and money to hire a hack to carry him to the estate, to which he had a rough map.
    Clapping Hawkins on the back, he remounted his phaeton and headed for Curzon Street, not particularly relishing a lone dinner at White’s. He supposed it would be another dreary night for which he would need to change into evening clothes. What a confounded bore!
    But when he arrived in the club dining room, it was to find the Duke of Ruisdell checking his watch at a table by himself. Ah! Buck had forgotten. The duke wanted a word.
    “I was just about to give you up as a casualty of Fanny’s exuberant charms.”
    “I parted company with Miss Edwards at four this afternoon,” Buck said.
    “Well, I’m afraid I’ve dined without you. The lamb is first rate. And it seems they must have some smuggled brandy in the cellar. I recommend it.”
    After Deal had ordered his dinner, the duke said, “Did you beat Northbrooke’s time to Richmond?”
    “Northbrooke?”
    “Marquis of. Good friend of mine. He set it some five or six years ago; I’ve forgotten. Used to be an out-and-outer, but since his marriage, he keeps to Wiltshire most of the time.”
    “My leader cast a shoe. I must make another attempt.”
    “But not, if you please, with my ward.”
    “Your ward?”
    “That is what I wanted to explain. Until she comes of age next year, Fanny is under my guardianship. Being new to town, you wouldn’t know what is common knowledge to everyone else.”
    Buck was intrigued. “And that is . . .”
    Ruisdell looked uncomfortable. “It used to be