Andrea Pickens - [Lessons in Love 03] by The Storybook Hero Read Free Book Online

agitated voice at several of the men, only to earn an equally heated retort. Octavia choked back a laugh, causing Alex to cock a brow in question.
    "That fellow just gave a rather colorful description of the other man's genealogy," she explained.
    "You speak Russian?"
    She nodded. "A smattering. My father had quite a scholarly bent. There were just the two of us since I was quite small, so I'm afraid I received a rather unorthodox education for a female." After a fraction of a pause, she sighed and added, "It's a shame I am not a man, so that I might be able to put to use what I have learned."
    "I don't think it's a shame at all," he murmured. "That you are not a man, I mean."
    She gave a tug at her cloak. "Mr. Sheffield, you may stop with your silly flirtations. At my stage in life, I am quite immune to such games. Besides, you are much more interesting to be around when you choose to use your brain rather than other parts of your anatomy."
    He threw back his head and laughed. "Ah, so I have finally discovered the way to your good graces—unfortunately a trifle too late. However," he added in an exaggerated whisper, "I'm devastated to find that my charms have no effect on your lovely person."
    "Really, sir, you are most ridiculous. I am well aware that I am hardly a paragon of female beauty. I am too tall. My hair is too mousy and my figure is...." She stopped in some embarrassment.
    "Yes?" he encouraged.
    To her dismay, Octavia felt her face turning a warm shade of red. "...And I am too old to be considered anything but an antidote."
    "Miss Hadley!" came a shrill cry from across the cobbled way.
    "Ah, there is Mr. Heron now," she said quickly, relieved to be able to change the subject.
    Alex eyed the thin figure, head bobbing nervously in all directions as he surveyed the bustle around him. "Tell me you are joking."
    "I'm afraid not."
    "Poor fellow. Well I hope you fly along to Moscow with no trouble." He thrust out his hand. "Shall we cry friends then, and take our leave from each other with no hard feeling for the past?"
    Octavia smiled and accepted it. "Indeed, Mr. Sheffield, let us part as friends. I wish you good luck in your new position."
    Instead of releasing her hand, he pulled her hard to his chest and pressed a firm kiss on her surprised lips.
    "Mr. Sheffield!" she sputtered, when he allowed her to step back.
    "For luck." He grinned and winked, then disappeared among a group of sailors tramping back towards their ship.
    * * *
    Bloody hell. She had quite enough on her mind without being troubled by thoughts of the maddening Mr. Sheffield. Why was it she couldn't seem to banish the picture of those mocking blue eyes and sensuous smile? Really, she was acting like a schoolroom miss, mooning over some handsome face as if anything could come of it. He was nothing but a scoundrel and a rake. A charming one, but she imagined that sort of man had to be, else he wouldn't be successful at seduction—or whatever it was scoundrels and rakes did.
    She stared out of the window of the lumbering coach as it wound its way through a thick forest of towering spruce and fir. A flock of ravens landed in one of the trees up ahead and filled the air with a raucous cawing. She shivered slightly and pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders. The sound, like the dark, unfamiliar landscape, was slightly forbidding and caused her wonder just what lay ahead for her.
    Well, whatever the fates had in store, it did not include a penniless tutor given to scandalous behavior, no matter that his stolen kisses aroused in her a certain... curiosity. Why, she bet he tossed out his smiles and winks as easily as a boy skipped stones across the water, and with the same careless nonchalance, unmindful of what the ripples might disturb. No doubt he had left a string of broken-hearted maids and governesses in his wake.
    She, on the other hand, was much too sensible to give such a man a second thought.
    "Miss Hadley?" Mr. Heron coughed hesitantly. "Is