The Scoundrel and I: A Novella Read Online Free PDF

aloud.
     
    Darling,
     
    Cob cleared his throat, then continued.
     
    Uncle Frederick is crawling out of his hole to attend Lady Beaufetheringstone’s ball tomorrow evening. No other hostess can ever summon him forth; I think he must have a tendre for her. But I know he will be delighted to see you.
     
    Tony snorted above the rim of his coffee cup. “Delighted” went too far. His mother’s brother, Bishop Frederick Baldwin, was as much of a snob as the rest of the family. But Tony could always make the old prelate laugh, or better yet, turn red and holler.
     
    I expect to meet you there. Save a dance for me.
    Bisous,
    Seraphina
    P.S. Do wear your uniform. You know how I adore it when the ladies flock about you like gulls around a topsail.
     
    Tony smiled. Seraphina was the only member of his family who acknowledged his chosen profession. The others preferred to pretend that he’d been on an extended educational trip abroad. For twenty years.
    He would attend the ball. Uncle Frederick was a cranky old codger, but Tony enjoyed him. He enjoyed everybody, mostly.
    He wanted to enjoy a snappy-tongued, doe-eyed print mistress, however, more than he had ever before wanted to enjoy a respectable woman.
    Her sweet, lush pink lips had entranced him. And her slender fingers, so graceful yet purposeful on that machine . . . He’d gotten downright lightheaded watching her hands move. And hard. Right there in that shop he had imagined removing the pins from her tightly bound hair the color of Russian sable, sinking his hands into it, and tilting her face up to his.
    “
Captain,”
his manservant said.
    “Cob?”
    “I said, would you care for me to reply to Lady Beaufetheringstone’s invitation to the ball, which has been waiting for your consideration, unopened on the foyer table, for a fortnight—”
    “If it’s unopened, how do you know it’s an invitation to a ball?”
    “—or to Mrs. Starling’s letter?”
    “No need. Lady B don’t stand on ceremony, and Seri knows that if she asks I’ll attend.”
    “Very well, sir. And when do you wish to meet with the land steward from Maitland Manor?”
    “Right.” He was now the owner of his dearly departed great-aunt’s house, including its lucrative lands. With a tidy bundle in his bank that he had accumulated at sea, he was set for life on land like a veritable nabob . . . while John Park was underground. “Have him come tomorrow.”
    “Very good, Captain.” Cob gave a smart bow and retired from the breakfast chamber.
    Maitland Manor was a dashed fine estate. Now he was going to set up a family in that house. A ready-made family.
    He toyed with the corner of Seraphina’s note. Then, like lost treasure washing up on shore, a solution to the pretty print mistress’s conundrum occurred to him.
    Bolting from his chair, he grabbed his hat and headed for the mews.
    ~o0o~
    When the door of the shop burst open, Elle had just folded her umbrella and bent to remove her boots. The summer sky was pouring down rain in slanting sheets, and she had returned from her regular weekly tea with Minnie, Adela, and Esme soaked through. In a whirl of rain and wind, Captain Masinter swept in, knocking her off balance. She flailed, he grabbed her arms, and abruptly she was looking up at very close range into a face that was even handsomer in the light of the gray day than by lamp-lit night.
    “Good day, ma’am.” His smile glittered and his eyes were so full of pleasure that she could not make her tongue function.
    She wrenched out of his hold and backed away. She had barely managed to cease thinking of him since the night before. This was not a pleasant surprise.
    “Why are you here?” she demanded.
    His smile did not falter. Sweeping off his hat, he moved toward her.
    “I’ve devised a solution.” His gaze traversed her from hair to hem, lingering on her stockinged feet soaking up rain on the floor. “Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”
    “I have just come in from— My