Seduction Becomes Her Read Online Free PDF

trifle. It is rather a large place, isn’t it?”

    “Oh, I know. Who would have ever expected us to live in such a grand house? With a butler and a housekeeper, and who knows how many other servants? I’m sure it will take me a week to find my way about. Sir Huxley must have been very wealthy.

    “More wealthy than any of us expected,” Daphne admitted.

    “Well, I’m sorry that he died, but isn’t it wonderful that Adrian inherited from him?” She waved an arm about. “Why, our entire place in London would fit into this very room.” She giggled. “With space left over for a ballroom, I wouldn’t doubt.”

    “Indeed, it is wonderful,” Daphne agreed. Thoughtfully, she added, “It may seem very grand to us, but I believe that Sir Huxley’s fortune is comfortable rather than grand—at least that’s what Mr. Vinton’s letter implied.”

    “I don’t care—it all seems magnificent to me.”

    A gust of wind slammed against the house, rattling the windows so fiercely that Daphne feared they would shatter. A rap on the door followed immediately, and April started and clutched frantically at Daphne.

    “Who can that be?” April cried, her expression terrified.

    “I suspect that our caller is none other than our brother,” Daphne said.

    “Adrian?” squeaked April. “What can he want at this hour?”

    “Probably the same thing that you did—company on a stormy night in a strange house.”

    That was, indeed, what Adrian wanted when he entered the room at Daphne’s command. He was wearing a dark blue woolen robe and carrying an armful of pillows and blankets. His expression sheepish, he walked toward the bed. Spying April beside Daphne, he grinned and said, “Oho! I see that I am not the only one who finds this place daunting.”

    “I think we are all a little overwhelmed by the size of it,” Daphne said. Nodding to the blankets and pillows in his arms, she added with a twinkle, “Am I to understand that you intend to camp out in my bedroom tonight?”

    He flushed. “I thought I could make a bed on the floor and sleep by the fire…if you didn’t mind.”

    Once Adrian had made his bed on the floor to his satisfaction, he wrapped a thick quilt around his body and lay down a few feet from the glowing embers on the hearth. Propping himself up on one elbow, he looked across at Daphne and April. “Now this,” he said, “is much better. That vast room of mine is drafty, the fireplace smokes, and with this devilish storm howling about, I’ll not deny it—it was downright off-putting. I swear, Daffy, I expected any minute to see the ghost of old Sir Huxley rise up out of the shadows and come after me.”

    April sat up and looked across Daphne at her brother on the floor. “Do you think,” she asked in a voice full of ghoulish interest, “that Sir Huxley’s ghost haunts the house?”

    “There are no such things as ghosts,” Daphne said firmly.

    “Oh,” April replied, her disappointment clear. “Well, if there were such things as ghosts, I think a ghost would be a fine thing to have, and this place would be perfect for one.”

    “If you feel that way,” taunted her brother, “what are you doing in here? If you wanted to see a ghost, you should have stayed in your own room. Everyone knows,” he said, “that ghosts are particularly fond of haunting innocent young maidens… especially on stormy nights like tonight.”

    April eyed him with suspicion. She glanced at Daphne. “Is that true?”

    Daphne shook her head. “No. And I repeat—there are no such things as ghosts.”

    Adrian opened his mouth, but Daphne said, “And that’s enough about ghosts.” Shaking a finger at Adrian, she added, “If you continue, I shall banish you to your own bedroom.”

    He grinned at her and lay down. Yawning, he said, “G’night. I’ll be up at first light and gone back to my room when you awake.”

     

    True to his word, when Daphne awoke, Adrian was gone, and when the two ladies