Accidentally in Love by Claudia Dain Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t say similar things about her. Is that what Kit thought of her?
    She wanted to groan and hide in a corner. How could he not? He was always among them, just like a brother, to hear him tell it. How could he not have determined that she was as bossy as an old cow and would make a most horrid wife?
    “I don’t know how Blakes, that’s her husband, Lord Henry Blakesley, tolerates it, but he does. He’s mad for her.”
    “He is?” Perhaps there was hope.
    “Entirely mad for her. No one who knows her can quite comprehend it.”
    “Oh,” she said, her voice, her shoulders, her spirits dropping to land with a nearly audible thump.
    “Now,” Eleanor said, her high voice vibrating with excitement, “here is Lord Raithby, standing quite alone; obviously he would enjoy our conversation.”
    “Oh, yes, obviously,” Emeline said. It was not obvious in the slightest, particularly since she very well might have a reputation as a scold, at least in Wiltshire, with Kit.
    They were six feet from Lord Raithby, partially concealed behind a smallish chair, a smaller table, and two mature women and one elderly man, none of whom Emeline knew. Eleanor Kirkland might speak a bold game, but even she hesitated upon the final moment of accosting Lord Raithby. Into that female hesitation strode Kit. It was all quite thrilling.
    Mrs. Culley was on Kit’s arm, which took the thrill off of it a bit. Quite a bit.
    Kit had never looked more handsome to her. His coat was deepest blue, his cravat crisply white, his waistcoat aqua blue and jade green silk brocade. If he was a Greek god, he was the god of the sea and the waves. Poseidon, without the trident.
    “Mrs. Culley,” Eleanor said, “your ostrich feathers are so very dashing. How I long for the day when my aunt will allow me to wear them.”
    Emeline forced her gaze from Kit to his mother. She was wearing ostrich feathers. They looked perfectly fine on her. Dashing? She would not have said dashing.
    “Thank you, Lady Eleanor,” Mrs. Culley said, her two ostrich feathers twitching at her every movement. “I think they are too fine for Wiltshire, but as I am in London now . . . ” her voice trailed off. She smiled almost apologetically.
    Mrs. Culley often gave the appearance of a sort of general apology. Emeline suspected she was rarely ever truly sorry for anything.
    “You must certainly adopt London standards and behaviors,” Eleanor said, finishing the thought for her. Eleanor sounded so enthusiastic. It did seem overmuch for a conversation about feathers. “In fact, I was just saying as much to Miss Harlow.” At this, Emeline pulled her gaze from staring at the strong line of Kit’s throat to attend Eleanor.
    Eleanor was staring right back at her, her dark blue eyes compelling some sort of response. Emeline glanced at Kit and Mrs. Culley; they, too, were looking at her expectantly.
    “Yes, we,” Emeline began, stumbling over her words, “were just about to ask Lord Raithby if . . . .” Kit looked at her with the most peculiar expression on his face. If she didn’t know him so very well she might actually be alarmed. “If he had ever dueled.”
    There. That was throwing the cat into the pond with both hands. If Kit still clung to his mother’s arm after that bit of provocation . . . though, to be fair, it was Mrs. Culley clinging to him, not the other way round. Still. If he cared for her at all, even as a brother, he should do something, anything, to stop her from doing such a scandalous thing.
    Dueling was not something women were ever supposed to know about. Naturally, women knew all about dueling, even in Wiltshire. But that was the least of it; a young woman was never to approach a man with whom she was not acquainted and to whom she had not been formally introduced. That was the true scandal. It was beyond forward; it was ill mannered, the most egregious sin of all.
    “I was not aware you had been introduced to Lord Raithby,” Kit said.
    “I have not