The Pretenders Read Online Free PDF

might have in that department. Reeve certainly thought so. He was standing at me with unabashed interest.
    Reeve himself looked splendid. His black evening coat fit perfectly over his wide shoulders and was only slightly darker than his eyes and his hair.
    “Stop looking at my bosom,” I said irritably.
    He grinned.
    Mama came in from the drawing room, where she had been waiting. “Deborah, darling, are you ready?”
    I looked at her again in admiration. She wore a sky-blue gown that brought out the color in her eyes, and she looked as fragile and beautiful as a piece of delicate china.
    If I lived to be a hundred, I would never look like a piece of delicate china.
    “I shall be escorting the two most beautiful ladies in all of London,” Reeve said gallantly.
    I gave him a dark look. “If you desert me at this party, I shall kill you,” I informed him.
    “The men will be swarming all over you,” he said. ”I’ll never be able to hold on to you.”
    “I won’t know anyone, Reeve,” I pointed out. ”I get asked to dance at home because everyone knows me.”
    “You don’t look like this when you go to dances in Cambridge,” he said positively. ”Madame Dufand has done you proud.”
    “She should,” I said. ”She cost enough.”
    “Stop complaining.” Reeve settled a light cloak around my shoulders, then did the same thing for Mother. ”The carriage is waiting, ladies. Let’s go.”
    Mother and I allowed him to hustle us out the door.
    The Meryton ball was a revelation. I had never seen so many elegantly dressed people in one place at the same time. Nor had I ever been the subject of such breathless attention.
    It began with our hostess, who stared at me with unabashed curiosity. “So you are the lucky woman who has captured our Corsair,” she said.
    I looked at her in utter bewilderment, not knowing what to reply.
    Corsair?
    “Lady Meryton, allow me to make known to you Miss Deborah Woodly,” Reeve said sternly. ”She has promised to be my wife.”
    “But where did you find her, Cambridge?” Lady Meryton said. ”You must know that the
ton
is in a state of shock about this sudden announcement.”
    Reeve’s face was wearing its blackest look.
    “Reeve and I have known each other forever, ma’am,” I said quietly. ”My home is near Ambersley, you see.”
    “Well, you are a very lucky young woman, my dear,” Lady Meryton informed me. ”Half the young ladies in London have gone into mourning.”
    With difficulty, I refrained from rolling my eyes.
    We left Lady Meryton in the hall and progressed to the entrance to the drawing room, where the dance was being held. The minute we appeared on the threshold, everyone turned to look at us.
    “Good heavens, whatever is the matter?” I muttered to Reeve out of the side of my mouth.
    “Pay no attention to them,” he said, but I could see that he was annoyed. He took my arm and almost pulled me into the drawing room. Mama walked quietly at my other side.
    A little whisper of excitement rippled around the room.
    I had never in my life caused such stir. It had to be Reeve.
    Whatever was going on?
    There was a dance forming up as we came in, and Reeve immediately took my hand and led me to the floor. He didn’t say anything, but the set of his jaw was rather grim.
    The dance was a quadrille, which required me to pay close attention to my steps and didn’t give me much opportunity to question Reeve about what was happening. As soon as the dance was over we returned to Mama, who had found a place among the chaperones, and I was preparing to quiz Reeve about the oddity of our reception when two gentlemen came up to us and demanded to be introduced to me.
    Reeve looked resigned. “Deb, these are two good friends of mine. May I present Colonel Angus Macintosh of the Scots Guards, and Mr. Devereaux Miles, who has been a friend since Eton.”
    The Colonel was a bluff-looking older man with sandy hair and an unfashionable sandy mustache. Mr. Miles was