One Taste of Scandal by Heather Hiestand Read Free Book Online

attractive. She was old enough to be past her first Season, but by how much? “I have never had much contact with children, but I look forward to the experience in the spring.”
    “Oh, how exciting. The marchioness?”
    He nodded.
    Miss Cross locked her fingers together, across her teacup. “I wanted to ask about last winter. Did you go on ‘shooting holiday’ as you put it, with my brother?”
    “I am very good with languages,” Judah said, remembering the creative uses to which he had put his skill over the years. “And there were questions about the current dispositions of villages near Lahore.”
    “Is my brother good with languages?”
    “He can get by, but he has his own charms.”
    She tapped her fingers on the cup. He could sense her nervous energy.
    “I knew your brother very well,” he ventured, to let her know she could confide in him.
    Her fingers tightened until they were white at the knuckles. “My family is a close one, especially with my parents gone. Tell me, Captain, will we ever see Mark again?”
    “Not everyone returns from India. It is a lifestyle congenial to many.”
    “England is not kind to men like him,” she said softly. “I’m glad he had a friend in you, and must hope he has found another in this trader, or at least a safe place to conduct his business.”
    “I hope you do not think I was that kind of friend.” Judah puffed out his chest. Certainly he found the girl attractive, and not her brother!
    Magdalene smiled. “I have no concerns on that matter, Captain.” Her fingers relaxed.
    “I am relieved to hear it.” He uncrossed his legs and sat forward.
    Her gentle laugh was a tinkle of bells he could listen to all day. Who would have thought such a sharp lady could make that delicate sound? “Did you know, in India, bells are used to invoke the gods, Miss Cross?”
    “Oh?”
    “Yes, your laugh, it reminds me of the sound that was once so familiar to me. I am pleased to find it here again in England.”
    Her lips pressed together, into a mischievous smile that broke dimples on her cheeks. “You will make me self-conscious, Captain.”
    “I didn’t intend to. But on that note, I should take my leave. The sounds overhead are increasing, and I must return to Redcake’s.” Indeed, a screech, worse than any cat in battle, rose into the air.
    “You may rethink spending time with children,” she said, rising.
    “Infants aren’t this bad,” he said uneasily.
    “I hope you never discover the joys of colic, sir.” She held out her hand to him.
    Some instinct led him to kiss it, just the faint brush of his lips against her reddened flesh, but when he lifted his head again, she’d lost her look of ease. He had been too familiar.
    “I will see you in Trafalgar Square, perhaps?” he said, stepping away.
    “I always go to Eddy when we need a paper,” she said.
    “So do I. He’s a charmer.”
    “Until then.” She inclined her head.
    He followed her into the hall and she handed him his hat, then before he knew it, he was on the front stoop, smelling violets. A cacophony of images and words spread across his mind. The Cross household was not a placid one, yet for that moment, when Magdalene Cross had laughed, it was as if he’d entered a holy place.
     
    August passed swiftly. Judah never ceased learning at Redcake’s. The enterprise was complex and an unending variety of special events—whether teas held in the private room, weddings catered in private homes, or religious events requiring celebration—took place. Construction on a larger private room in the building continued on as well, which rarely allowed Judah to spend time at his home. He did not see Magdalene Cross again, though he visited Eddy most mornings to pick up a Times . He had an abundance of pretty women to flirt with, but none of them compared favorably to her. Those dimples had him aching many a warm night.
    On the final weekend of August, he caught a train south, as he’d received a note from