Wolfishly Yours Read Online Free PDF Page B

daughter. Such a pretty little thing, isn’t she, Grayson?”
    “Pretty?” Archer’s brow rose. “I think you neglected to mention that part, Brother.”
    “She could expose us all,” Gray hissed.
    “Oh, yes, pretty,” their mother continued as though Gray hadn’t spoken. “Stunning, really. Wouldn’t you agree, Grayson?”
    Liviana Mayeux was stunning. But that was neither here nor there. “Mother, both Archer and I are too busy at the moment to head to Bath. We’ve discussed it and—”
    “We cannot wait to accompany you, despite our other duties,” Archer chimed in. “When do we leave?”

Four
    Gray should have run all the way from Derbyshire to Somerset, if for no other reason than to avoid the caustic glares and constant bickering between his brother and Lady Sophia along the journey. His head throbbed as he stepped from the Radbourne carriage onto the cobblestones before the Earl of Holmesfield’s elegant Bath home. What he wouldn’t give to be almost anywhere else.
    “So where is your pretty little French poodle?” Archer whispered in Gray’s ear as he clapped a hand to his back.
    Gray glanced over his shoulder and scowled at his brother. “I wouldn’t call her mine , and I wouldn’t compare her to any breed of dog where she can hear you unless you’d like to get her on a subject we should all avoid. She may have Lycan blood in her veins, but she needn’t bandy that fact about.”
    Archer grinned unrepentantly. “Indeed. Maybe she’ll show me the mark on her thigh.”
    “ You planning on marrying the chit?” Gray returned. “It would probably serve you right. I’d dearly love to see the knots she’d leave you in. Probably exactly what you deserve after the life you’ve led.”
    “It would be so nice,” came Lady Sophia’s disembodied voice from inside the carriage, “if one of the gentlemen outside would offer a hand of assistance to Lady Radbourne and myself.”
    Archer frowned. “She can’t be worse,” he nodded his head toward the coach, “than that one.”
    Except that Lady Sophia had never heard the word “Lycan,” and if she did, she’d never utter it. Gray nodded toward the coach. “Shall you do the honors? Or shall I?”
    “I’ll do it,” Archer grumbled, then turned around and helped their mother alight from the conveyance.
    Once Lady Radbourne was safely on her feet, Archer shut the coach door with a slam and offered his arm to their mother. “Shall we?” he asked, ignoring the huff of indignation from inside the carriage.
    “Archer!” their mother admonished. “You shut the door on Lady Sophia.”
    “Did I?” he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Perhaps Gray can assist the lady. Come along, Mother. Lord Holmesfield awaits us with his supposedly stunning granddaughter.”
    Gray itched to send his brother sprawling across the cobblestones, but that would hardly do in broad daylight in front of the earl’s home. So he opened the coach door and offered his hand to Lady Sophia instead. “Sorry, my lady,” he said. “Awful gust of wind.”
    “Windbag, you mean,” the lady retorted as she stepped from the coach, smoothing her dark locks back in place. “Your brother is insufferable.”
    Gray agreed with a nod. “Indeed. And I’ve been suffering him all my life.”
    “You have my condolences.”
    “And I appreciate them,” Gray returned, offering her his arm. “We should follow to make sure he doesn’t make any blunders upon greeting the earl.”
    “I’ll be happy if he makes but one blunder, Mr. Hadley.”
    As long as it was only a small one, Gray was in agreement. The two hurried along the short walk to the front door and joined Archer and Lady Radbourne on the stoop as an aged butler gestured them all over the threshold.
    “His lordship and Miss Mayeux are in the parlor. This way.” The old man led them down the corridor and through the first open doorway. “Lord and Lady Radbourne, Lady Sophia and Mr. Hadley, my