Teach Me Under the Mistletoe Read Online Free PDF Page A

halted Hugh’s escape and he sighed. “Yes?”
    Dougal angled a sharp glare across the room. “I don’t have to remind you how fortunate we are to have found employment.”
    “No,” murmured Hugh, scuffing the toe of his boot in the dust on the plank floor. “No, ye don’t.”
    “Then watch yerself, brother.” Dougal raised an eyebrow, obviously awaiting a response.
    “Nothing to watch,” muttered Hugh. “Lady Caroline requested my help with an errand is all.” He spun on his heel and stalked from the room. As he passed one of the stable’s central pillars, he smacked it with his fist. A harness fell from one of the hooks but he didn’t stop to retrieve it. Let the almighty Dougal come upon it and put it back up.
    Once through the stable’s rear door, the chilly air slapped icy fingers across his face. Hugh sucked in a deep breath. Leave it to his brother to remind him of their current prospects or the reason they found themselves in dire straits. Hugh kicked at the muddy ground. Blast it all. He hadn’t been the one to offend Lady Braithwaite by rebuffing her offer of a dalliance while her husband was taken abed with age and infirmity. Not that he blamed Dougal, though. Hugh frowned and set his foot on the lower rail of the fence and stared at the empty paddock. The woman had been half again Dougal’s age and married to a man twice her age to boot.
    And are you about to commit the blunder he avoided?
    The question hung in the air as sure as if Hugh had spoken the words. Had he already embarked on a journey that would lead them to the further compromise of their plans?
    No! He shook his head and pushed off the fence. He wasn’t going to ruin Lady Caroline. ‘Twas a few harmless moments, a stolen kiss.
    And if he continued those moments? Those stolen kisses?
    “I won’t!” he growled.
    “Beg pardon?” inquired a soft feminine voice from behind him. Lady Caroline!
    Hugh spun around. Lady Jennifer was a slightly older version of her sister, with somewhat of a brittle edge to her demeanor. She was dressed in a fine silk traveling gown in pale gray, covered by a sturdy wool pelisse of Egyptian blue. Why had she not sent along a footman to call for the carriage? And she’d come alone, with no chaperone in sight.
    “I’m sorry, m’lady,” he murmured, averting his eyes, and hoping for all he was worth he wasn’t about to be asked by another sister to discuss any sort of private matter. “I was voicing my thoughts aloud. I… thought I was alone.”
    Her forced giggle carried a harsher tone than Lady Caroline’s had, and no mirth reached her eyes. “I shall require the phaeton brought round with fresh horses.” She smoothed a nonexistent wrinkle along the top of one lacy ivory glove.
    “Yes, m’lady. Would ye like me to notify Mr. Jenkins?”
    Lady Jennifer lifted her chin and subjected Hugh to a long stare. “Of course,” she said after several heartbeats. “I am not, after all, my sister, who cares naught for propriety.”
    Though he might differ from her in his view of propriety, Hugh’s next breath hung in his throat. Giving her a nod, he managed a noncommittal murmur and walked back into the stable. What did she know? Had Lady Caroline confessed to the details of their morning excursion?
    Spying the young stablehand Joseph, Hugh motioned him over. “Please tell Mr. Jenkins his services are needed by one of the ladies of the house, and please prepare the phaeton.”
    Given the way his heart raced against his chest, it was for the best he never find himself alone with Lady Caroline again. The decision seemed to ease the heavy thumping of his heart but his sense of dread remained.
    As Joseph and another stablehand readied the carriage, Hugh set about pulling the horses from their stalls. Only after the team had jangled off with the carriage did he draw an easy breath. Mr. Jenkins apparently saw nothing out of the ordinary about driving one of the sisters with no chaperone, so maybe Lady