Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly Read Free Book Online Page B

gallantry."
    With great solemnity, her nephew obeyed. He was graceful but stiff, and when his lips pressed briefly to her skin, she could not suppress a shiver. His mouth had been warm, almost hot. When he straightened, two spots of color flew on his cheeks.
    "Enough of that," chuckled his brother. "Edward don't do the pretty like I do."
    He took Florence 's arm to lead her to the sideboard, where an astonishing array of food was laid out in silver dishes. Florence goggled at the deviled kidneys and eggs, at the kedgeree and kippers, at the porridge and toast and rolls and the pots of jelly that gleamed like jewels. She doubted four people
could eat this much in a week, even if two of them were men.
    "Shall I serve you, Florence ?" Freddie suggested, grinning to soften his use of her Christian name.
    "Yes ... Freddie," she responded and was rewarded with a boyish laugh.
    "We'll get on," he said with a friendly wink. "I can see you're a sensible girl."
    He could not have picked a better compliment and the meal proceeded with amazing ease. Freddie was a witty raconteur, a bit naughty perhaps, but never over the line.
    "My brother," he confided, as that stern fellow cut his kidneys with methodical care, "is the despair of all the mamas in London ."
    "Is he?" she said, though she wasn't sure she ought to encourage Freddie at his brother's expense. Edward, as she forced herself to think of him, did not seem the type to relish teasing.
    "Yes," said Freddie and bumped her shoulder compan-ionably with his own. "They try to snare him for their daughters, but he won't go. Can't even get him to flirt."
    Edward frowned at his plate, but did not scold.
    "Not all men were born to flirt," Florence said, feeling oddly as if she should defend him. "Perhaps he— I mean you—oh, dear. Forgive me, Lord Greystowe. I ought not speak for you."
    "Edward," he said with a chill authority that proved he was Hypatia's nephew.
    "Edward," she said, her cheeks aflame beneath his strange, measuring gaze. "I'm sure your reasons for not flirting with the mamas' daughters are very wise."
    "Hah!" said Freddie, apparently in no fear of his brother's ire. "He's married to his responsibilities. To
his corn and his sheep and his cotton mill in Manchester ."
    Edward set down his knife and fork. "Now, Freddie," he said with a perfectly sober face, "it isn't nice to say a man is married to his sheep."
    Florence almost choked on a piece of toast. One of the footmen had to thump her on the back until she stopped.
    "Come, come," Edward chided. "Surely a country girl like yourself is familiar with the animal side of life."
    Florence was almost certain he was teasing. Some emotion curled the corner of his surprisingly sensual mouth. His tone, however, was completely serious.
    Her nerves in hopeless confusion, she crumpled her napkin in her lap. Whatever this family's reasons for taking her in, she did not want them to think her common, or that her father had not sheltered her as he should. If she'd heard the village lads joking about such things, it was purely by accident! "I know n-nothing of it at all," she stammered. "Why, when Father carved the turkey, he always asked if I'd take a slice of bosom."
    She'd meant this to prove the vicar's propriety, but the declaration caused Freddie to cough loudly into his fist. As for Edward, though he did not succumb to humor, a definite glint shone in his eye.
    "Very proper," he said. "The white meat is the tenderest."
    His head was lowered over his plate, but when he peered up through his lashes, his gaze seemed to rove laughingly across her bodice. She'd never seen a man laugh that way, with nothing but his eyes. It was at once disconcerting and appealing. And it made it utterly impossible not to press her hand to the swell of her breast.
    "Edward," Hypatia scolded, "you're making the girl uncomfortable."
    The polite thing would have been to deny it, but Florence 's mouth wasn't working well enough for that.
    "No worries,"