The Hopeless Hoyden Read Online Free PDF Page A

and friends wish you well, but then, so did Julius Caesar.   Just look how Brutus, his best friend, betrayed him," Emily replied, not a bit taken aback by his gruff defense.  “If you were to look at the facts--"
                  “Let's not," he cut her off just as the door opened.  "And I'd appreciate it if you'd say nothing of your silly imaginings to anyone else."
                  “Gabriel, my lord," Sylvia called out while closely eying Emily.  One look at Emily's outmoded gown and wayward locks and the blond beauty ignored her completely.  "I am glad I caught you.  It is such a lovely morning for a ride, and I hoped you could accompany me."
                  Gabriel noticed how Emily seemed to take Sylvia's rude dismissal in stride but suspected it was because Emily was more miffed over his refusal to take her seriously than being snubbed by Sylvia.   He, however, was put off with Sylvia’s rudeness.
                  “Miss Raines, allow me to introduce Miss Pendleton," he began as the pretty blonde glided across the room to stand next to his chair.  Dressed in a dark blue habit with silver piping, Gabriel acknowledged Sylvia looked stunning yet found Miss Pendleton's serviceable cherry hued attire more refreshing and pleasing to his eye.
                  “I can be ready when you are," Sylvia said to Gabriel, again ignoring Emily after the introductions were made.
                  “Oh, I was about to leave," Emily piped up, pushing back from the table. "They will be looking for me at the Grange."
                  “The Grange?" inquired Sylvia, all innocence.
                  “Yes, Pendleton Grange, just over the ridge to the northeast.  It is a lovely Elizabethan manor house."
                  “Lovely," echoed Sylvia, letting her blue eyes roam the palatial proportions of the Park's dining room.
                  But Emily was used to Sylvia's kind.  Rather than take offense, she quickly said goodbye and was out the door before the Viscount could stop her.
                  Weaving her way through the woods toward her lovely manor house, Emily wondered why the Viscount had been so quick to denounce her warning.  When she'd hinted that the killer was one of his guests, he'd hesitated in answering.  True, it had been a mere moment.  But it was a tell-tale one.  He knew or suspected the truth in what she'd related.  Well, she'd keep her eyes open and even tell Lindemann's gamekeeper to keep his peepers pealed for any strange or suspicious characters roaming about.
                  It really was too bad the Viscount was going to be such a nodcock over this.  She decided she liked him and would hate to see anything untoward happen.
    ###
                  The sun was barely cresting over the tree tops as Gabriel rode over the ridge separating the two estates.  Reining in his black stallion, Ajax, he saw Pendleton Grange off to the right.  It was just as Miss Pendleton described it, a lovely old manor house, overlooking acres of apple orchards and verdant farmland.  He'd seldom seen her while growing up.  Tom, the oldest Pendleton boy, was six years his junior while Emily was closer to twelve years.  He barely remembered a daughter existed since he'd been away at war for most of the past ten years. 
                  While his gaze lingered over the Grange’s land, Gabriel remembered how interminably long yesterday had seemed.   He'd played the perfect host, overseeing the lawn games after lunch, dodging Sylvia's coy smiles and hiding from Freddy.  His foppish friend had taken to wearing patches about his face, an old custom the baron said he hoped to revive, and so he kept pestering Gabriel to follow his lead.
                  He had let Cecil and Deborah orchestrate the evening's entertainment of parlor games and again