Every Scandalous Secret by Gayle Callen Read Free Book Online

could see the boots beneath her plain skirts as she walked toward him and knew she was dressed for the outdoors.
    “Good morning, Mrs. Randolph. The rain has stopped, I see.”
    “Perfect for a walk. Perhaps I’ll see Miss Leland forging across the hills, as I did yesterday.”
    Leo only nodded, trying not to appear too interested in Susanna’s whereabouts. After he seated himself, she brought her own plate and sat across from him.
    “How is your brother, Mr. Wade? Such a tragedy, to lose one’s sight in a fall from a horse. I imagine it could happen to many of us, yet the numbers who could flourish as Lord Wade has might be far less.”
    “It was an adjustment, Mrs. Randolph, but Simon has never been a man who would shirk his duties. Even when barely out of his sickbed, he was overseeing his estates, as well as my grandmother’s.”
    “Must be difficult to be the brother of such a pillar of strength,” Mrs. Randolph said with sympathy.
    Leo smiled wickedly. “Such a shame he has to put up with me.”
    She laughed with him, but her gaze remained on him occasionally as she ate.
    The men planned to fish for the morning, and Leo didn’t decline, letting out a little bit of line for Susanna to become complacent with her supposed ability to elude him. Then, with a little jerk, he’d reel her in later in the day. Usually, the time spent alone with men bothered him the most about house parties, but this time, things were different. He had the anticipation of his next encounter with Susanna.
    Early that afternoon, he and the other men joined the ladies on a hilltop that emphasized the beauty of the countryside broken into varied green squares by hedgerows and earthen lanes. An ancient castle rose on a distant hill, the outer walls crumbling but the turrets still pointing to the sky. Pavilions had been erected for protection from the sun, and servants took their catch of fish to fry for the meal. The older couples sat beneath the shade of a pavilion, talking together.
    Several tables were piled with fruit and cheeses, as well as bottles of cider, ale, and lemonade. Leo helped himself before strolling toward the ladies. Blankets were spread near the summit of the hill like an enormous quilt, and they sat about, legs folded demurely beneath them, skirts spread, sketchbooks in their laps.
    Susanna was closest to the edge of the hill, but to the side, so as not to block the view of her students. She was gesturing to the distant countryside, but he wasn’t really listening. He realized that something seemed . . . different about her. She’d tossed aside her bonnet, and its ribbons trailed in the grass. Her students hadn’t followed her example—perhaps they cared more about freckles than she did.
    Her hair was in the same severe style, but the breeze had blown a curl or two about her ears—or had such artifice been deliberate? While he was puzzling about that, he realized that he could see her collarbones winging out gently across her shoulders—this was almost a daring revelation of skin compared to her usual style. He found himself staring as if he could see her breasts, and his own behavior amused him.
    He’d never found a house party half so entertaining.
    Susanna moved among the blankets, examining sketchbooks, praising as well as critiquing. But even she must have been able to tell that her students were beginning to watch the bachelors. At last the art lesson broke up, and the ladies began to rise and make their way toward the pavilions where the men waited, offering to hold plates or drinks while the ladies helped themselves.
    When Susanna did not immediately follow, Leo went to her. “Another successful lesson?”
    She glanced at him without a blush or evasion of his gaze, which intrigued him.
    “I am evaluating the skills they’ve already acquired,” Susanna said, “and trying to bring some of them up to the knowledge of the others.”
    He removed her sketchbook from beneath her arm before she had a