The Viscount's Revenge (The Royal Ambition Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

courtesy, he held out his arm to Amanda.
     
    “I can find Richard to take care of me, if you would rather not,” said Amanda.
     
    Lord Hawksborough turned and looked hopefully about. “Since your Richard is not in sight,” he said with a sigh, “I cannot very well abandon you.”
     
    Amanda longed for the courage to say she did not want to be escorted by any gentleman so obviously reluctant to do so, but his weary hauteur, his grand manner, and his great height intimidated her and so she shyly put a hand on his arm and allowed him to lead her to the supper room.
     
    Lord Hawksborough found them two empty seats at the end of a long table, and half-closed his eyes against the repulsive sight of so much food and drink being piled haphazardly on so many plates. One large young lady in pink had actually helped herself to meat and jelly and cream all at the same time.
     
    He filled a plate with cold meat and vegetables and handed it to Amanda. He poured himself a glass of wine and shook his head when Amanda asked him timidly if he was not going to have anything to eat.
     
    Voices rose and fell about them. The earl, the countess, and their other guests were absent.
     
    Lord Hawksborough looked down at the diminutive figure of his companion and wondered how she managed to stay so slim. She was eating food at an enormous rate.
     
    He tapped his quizzing glass against his empty plate and said, “What do you do for amusement, Miss… er…?”
     
    “Colby,” said Amanda, glad her mouth was momentarily empty. “Miss Amanda Colby.”
     
    “I am Hawksborough. What do you do to pass your country days, apart from attend assemblies?”
     
    “Well, my… my lord,” began Amanda tentatively, looking quickly up at him from under her lashes. She assumed he had a title. It was very awkward when people gave just one name, but it usually meant they held a peerage. “Well, I do quite a lot at home,” she went on candidly. “You know, the washing and making jams and jellies and baking and distilling medicines, and cooking dinner, and weeding the vegetable garden and…” She broke off and bit her lower lip in confusion. It all sounded very unexciting.
     
    She had rolled back her gloves to eat and also to hide the soiled palms. Lord Hawksborough noticed her work-reddened hands.
     
    “What energy!” he remarked. “Have you no servants?”
     
    “Oh, yes. A woman from the town cleans a little and a man helps with the garden.”
     
    “And you do the rest?”
     
    “Not alone. Aunt Matilda helps, and Richard, of course.”
     
    This Richard must be her fiancé, thought the viscount, and yet she wore no ring.
     
    He noticed that she had cocked her head a little on one side while her gold-and-green eyes kept sliding to the other side of the room where the boy called Richard was staring moodily at his food.
     
    Amanda took a deep breath. “May I have some more, my lord?”
     
    “To eat? You have a tremendous appetite.”
     
    “I have had nothing since breakfast.”
     
    He took her plate and piled it up again, and refilled his glass. The wine was remarkably good and Lord Hawksborough felt himself beginning to relax. He was amused by the quick sharp gestures of this strange girl. She looked like some wild animal poking its head out of its lair to reconnoitre the surrounding countryside.
     
    He suddenly wished she would look full at him. He was not used to being ignored by ladies of any age.
     
    “Then housework is your only amusement?” he pursued.
     
    Amanda carefully chewed and swallowed her food before replying. “I read a great deal,” she said. “On wet days, that is. Sometimes I take out the gun and go shooting with Richard.”
     
    “An odd pastime for a lady.”
     
    “Not if you need something for dinner,” said Amanda, beginning to eat again and failing therefore to notice the startled look on his face.
     
    Lord Hawksborough was surprised by Miss Colby’s honesty. Most ladies in her penurious