The Viscount Needs a Wife Read Online Free PDF Page B

yelled and waved a chopping knife.
    Kitty dumped her burden on top of the one in Ruth’s arms and went to her knees, coaxing the dog to come out to her. The kitchen lad scrambled under the table and brought Sillikin out, caught in the act of eating a dropped piece of meat.
    â€œBad dog!” Kitty scolded as she stood up with Sillikin firmly in her arms, knowing she was hot-faced and hair was escaping her cap. It was as well no one here would be asked to give her a reference as a suitable viscountess.
    She apologized and hurried to catch up with Ruth. “You’re going to spoil everything!” she scolded. The spaniel showed no sign of contrition.
    â€œRound here!” Ruth called.
    Kitty walked round the house and through a gate in a hedge to find a grassy area crossed by laundry lines. The area was edged on one side by a waist-high lavender hedge, over which sheets could be spread in the best weather to gather the fragrance as they dried.
    â€œShe’s usually better behaved,” Kitty said as she closedthe gate behind her. “But she’s been cooped up in the coach for most of the past two days.” And in Cateril Manor for so much longer. Perhaps Sillikin was feeling the same giddy relief as she was.
    Ruth had draped the clothing over one line and was pegging the first garment in place on another. “You can let her run about in here. The hedge is dense and the gates are closed.”
    There was a second gate into the lane that ran beside the parsonage. As Ruth said, it was closed, so Kitty let Sillikin free. Once she was sure the dog was content with snuffling around the area, she helped with the pegging.
    The sun was low in the sky and a breeze flapped the clothing on the line, but after her misadventure in the kitchen, the crisp air was welcome. The embarrassing moment hadn’t been her fault, but she must avoid any more, especially where Lord Dauntry might hear about them. She paused to tuck hair back under her cap and then pegged her blue linsey-woolsey gown securely to the line. This was a good time to learn more.
    â€œYou wrote that Lord Dauntry is fashionable. My brighter gowns are years old.”
    â€œHe’s not expecting a peacock of fashion.”
    â€œWhat is he expecting? What did you tell him?”
    Ruth pinned the green. “I can’t remember exactly. That you’re a widow aged twenty-seven. That you’d run your household in London for many years.”
    â€œMere rooms,” Kitty protested.
    â€œBut your own establishment. I tried to give the impression that you were sound in body and mind.”
    â€œAn effort, was it?”
    Ruth chuckled. “I sometimes wonder about the mind bit. I don’t forget you persuading me to slip out of school to visit a fair.”
    â€œNor do I,” Kitty said as she pegged out a shift. “We fled back to the school in terror.”
    â€œYou did it again the next year.”
    â€œAnd you refused. Very wisely, I’m sure.”
    â€œBut that’s when you met Marcus.”
    â€œYes,” Kitty said.
    She’d repeated the adventure simply to prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid, but she hadn’t intended to stay long. When she’d seen the scarred and wounded man leaning against a low wall, however, crutch propped beside him, she’d felt his despondence. She’d asked if she could help him in some way. He’d smiled and she’d seen the vibrant man beneath, so she’d kept him company for a little while.
    Older and wiser now, she could see all the ways that adventure could have been disastrous, but Marcus had never been that sort of wretch. They’d talked of trivialities, but the bond had been forged. He’d responded to her interest, and she’d fallen in love with the vision of herself as ministering angel to the wounded hero.
    He’d been in Leamington to take the spa waters and consult with a doctor there. The school servants were easy