Too Tempting to Resist Read Online Free PDF Page A

sort of style do your seek?”
    “It’s hard to explain.” Gryff abandoned his interrogation, knowing that it was pointless to press Cameron for personal revelations. “It may sound silly, but I’ll know it when I see it. There is a certain…Oh, merde .”
    “What?” Cameron looked around.
    “It’s Leete, that obnoxious pup from the country. And he appears to be headed our way.”
    Sure enough, the viscount teetered in the doorway of the reading room for a moment before cutting a patter of quick, unsteady steps to intercept them.
    “L’rd Haddan! Demmed fine show y’ make at Jackson’s yesterday. Lud, what I wouldn’t give f’ a right cross like yours.”
    Gryff flexed a fist, sorely tempted to stop the young man’s tipsy yapping with a punch to the jaw.
    “There’s a big mill taking place near my estate in Oxfordshire next week—y’ know, the Scottish Highland champion te fight the German Giant from Hamburg. A few of m’ friends coming t’ stay with me…don’t suppose y’ would care t’ join the party?”
    Actually I would rather break my knuckles one by one with a smithy’s hammer than endure a fawning pack of puppies trying to win my regard.
    “Thank you for the offer, Leete…” Gryff paused.
    Leete.
    “Perchance would your estate be Leete Abbey?” he asked.
    “Yes,” replied the baron eagerly. “Most of t’ grounds are covered with cursed gardens ’nd crumbling ruins, but the manor house is a proper place of masculine refuge.”
    Cameron’s mouth curled in contempt. “I doubt—”
    “The mill sounds like it might afford some amusement,” interrupted Gryff. “Thank you. You may count on my presence.”
    Leete’s ruddy face split into a fuzzy grin. “Excellent, excellent! I promise y’ll have a good time, sir.”
    “Have you taken momentary leave of your senses?” demanded Cameron as the viscount tottered away. “The fellow is an unmitigated ass. What in the name of Hades made you accept his offer?”
    Gryff smiled. “I’m not going for the pleasure of the viscount’s company. Leete Abbey is the location of a very fine example of Capability Brown’s ‘grammatical’ landscapes.” And unless he was much mistaken, it was also the location of the viscount’s intriguing widowed sister. Both were worthy of a trip to the country.
    “Grammatical landscape?” Cameron waggled a brow. “You are speaking a very odd sort of language.”
    “Brown added a new vocabulary to gardening,” explained Gryff. “He spoke of adding a comma here, a colon there…What he meant was, he merely punctuated the natural landscape rather than force it into a formal layout.”
    “Interesting,” murmured Cameron. As they reached the front portico, he gave a small salute with his walking stick. “I shall leave you to your commas and chrysanthemums. Enjoy your conversations with the local flora because you won’t be getting any sensible talk from Leete and his pack of drunken cronies.”
     
    Eliza eyed the crates of wine that had come down from London and swore under her breath.
    Their longtime butler coughed in commiseration. “It’s a pity His Lordship wasn’t born with your sense. Or rather, that you weren’t born with his…” Another cough.
    “With his plumbing,” she muttered.
    He bowed his head and remained tactfully silent.
    “I suppose you and James had better carry these down to the cellars.” An exasperated sigh leaked from her lungs. “Do your best to moderate the flow of festivities this evening, Trevor.”
    “Yes, milady. I shall.”
    As the two men hefted a slatted box and staggered for the stairs, Eliza cast a critical eye around the entrance hall. The two overworked maids had done their best in making the place presentable, but cobwebs could still be seen clinging to the corner moldings, and a dull sheen of dust coated the gold-framed scowling faces of her forebearers. Considering the musty aura of neglect pervading the once-handsome woodwork around them, they ought