Much Ado About You. Eloisa James

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Two

      The first thing Teresa Essex noticed was that the Englishmen were playing with toys. Toys! That fitted with everything they’d heard about Englishmen: thin, puny types they were, who never grew up and shivered with cold during a stiff breeze.

      Still, they were only men, if English versions of them.

      Tess hadn’t been much over sixteen years old when she realised that men’s notions of toys were flexible. With a glance at Josie and a touch on Imogen’s shoulder she brought her sisters into a straight line. Annabel had already fallen into place, her head tilted just so, the better to allow the beholders to appreciate the sheen of her honey-golden hair.

      These Englishmen looked even more shocked at the sight of the four of them than was usual. They were practically gaping. Quite rude, really. They weren’t exactly the spindly-legged, sickly creatures she would have expected, from what was said about Englishmen. The one of them looked like a fashion plate and had a wild mop of black curls that she supposed must be fashionable. Not that he was a dandy. Dandies didn’t have that faintly dangerous air. The other was tall, with a bit of a gut and a messy shock of brown hair falling over his brow. A lone wolf, perhaps.

      ‘Well,’ she said finally, when no one spoke, ‘we are, naturally, sorry to interrupt you both, especially when you were so gainfully occupied.’ She gave it just the faintest stress. Just enough to let them know that they were not merely pretty Scottish lasses, to be shunted off to the back room and ignored. They were ladies, after all, whether they wore unfashionable clothing or not.

      The elegant one bowed and came forward, saying, ‘What a delightful surprise to meet you, Miss Essex. All of you.’

      There was something odd about his voice, as if he were having trouble not laughing. But he kissed her hand with all the adroitness of a courtier.

      Then finally the big one, the lone wolf, shook himself, for all the world like a dog coming out of a puddle, and came to her side as well. ‘I apologise for my impoliteness,’ he said. ‘I am Rafe Jourdain, the Duke of Holbrook. I’m afraid that I mistook your ages.’

      ‘Our ages?’ Tess let her eyebrows ask a delicate question. Then, slowly, the implications of the gaudily painted room and the clusters of toys sank in. ‘You thought we were still children?’

      He nodded, standing before her now, bowing again, the easy sweep of a man who has spent his lifetime in the highest echelons of society, even though he (apparently) didn’t bother to brush his hair. ‘I offer you all my heartiest apologies. I was under the erroneous belief that you and you sisters were quite young.’

      ‘Young!’ Tess said. ‘You must have thought we were mere babes in arms!’ Because now she had taken in the presence of a nanny and four gaping young nursemaids in white aprons, the rocking horses, the dolls. ‘Didn’t Papa tell you -’

      But she broke off. Of course Papa hadn’t told him. Papa had likely informed him of Starling’s age, and Wanton’s stride, and what Lady of Pleasure liked to eat before a race, but not the ages of his daughters.

      Their guardian had taken her hand and was smiling down at her now, and her heart warmed despite her resentment. ‘I’m such a fool that I forgot to ask your father. And, of course, I hadn’t the faintest notion that my guardianship would be needed. Will you accept my deepest sympathies for your loss, Miss Essex?’

      Tess blinked. His eyes were a curious colour, sort of a grey-blue. And kind, for all he looked like a wild man of Borneo. A dash of hope mixed with the bleak feeling of defensiveness in her chest.

      ‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘May I introduce my sisters? This is Imogen,’ she said, turning to her sister. ‘Imogen is just turned twenty.’ There were moments when she thought that Imogen was СКАЧАТЬ