His Lordship's Chaperone by Shirley Marks Read Free Book Online Page A

Miss
Price’s voice, she had expected something along these lines to occur.
    “It’s positively scandalous!” Mrs. Baldwin said.
    “In his own home?” Miss Price exclaimed, clearly
shocked beyond belief. “Utterly unimaginable.”
    The ladies could not have been talking about her,
could they? Good sense prevailed and Catherine held her tongue. Her job was not
to correct wayward gossip, but to protect the reputation of her employer, even
if the malicious gossip was about her and him. Gossip, she reminded herself,
was harmless.
    The thought of him, Lord Haverton … the very idea
that he or she—that they might engage in anything improper … Catherine felt the
flush of warmth creep up her cheeks. What these ladies were insinuating was so
very far from the truth. She was his chaperone and nothing more. For heaven’s
sake, he couldn’t even recall her name.
    “And as you can see for yourselves,” Miss Trueblood
gestured to the dance floor before her, “he has the attention of every lady in
attendance, if not the entire Town.”
    Mrs. Baldwin shrugged. “Why does one man need so
many women?”
    Miss Price and Miss Trueblood glared at the third
of their trio whose face had turned as scarlet as her hair.
    “Some men are simply not satisfied with one woman,”
Miss Price enlightened the red-haired Mrs. Baldwin.
    She pressed her palm to the base of her throat.
“Not my Lord Haverton—”
    The truth was, Catherine noted, catching a glimpse
of him on the dance floor, Lord Haverton seemed especially careful not to pay
too much attention to any one lady in particular. He had danced his first set
with a blond and this set with a dark-haired beauty.
    “I see it is not only the young chits who make a
cake of themselves over him.” Miss Trueblood gave Mrs. Baldwin a scathing look.
“Would you wish yourself twenty years younger so you could compete for a
fraction of his attention? Drop a fan at his feet, perhaps?”
    “For him to notice me, I’d need to be thirty years
younger.” Mrs. Baldwin laughed. “And he half-blind.”
    “You are naughty,” Miss Price scolded but laughed
in good humor.
    “I fear it would take more than beauty to gain his
favor,” Miss Trueblood said with her gaze firmly fixed on the Marquess,
studying him.
    “You know, Miss Trueblood,” Miss Price countered,
“I believe you are right. It will take more than mere beauty to interest that
man.”
    The music had come to an end. Haverton bowed to his
partner. She was lovely, he noted, and quite pleas ant to dance with, as were
all the ladies he had partnered, but it was time to retreat. He returned Miss
Darrow to her chaperone, bowed over her hand, and excused himself.
    Tonight he need not give a second thought whether
he ought not try to find solitude or if his actions
would chance another questionable encounter. For once, he simply could do as he
wished. Escaping the stifling heat of the ballroom, the Marquess stepped
through the guests milling about on the dance floor and beyond the room, into
the back garden for a breath of air.
    So far, the evening had gone well. Uneventful but
the night was still young. Something would transpire before the evening came to
an end. He had no doubt at all.
    “Lord Haverton?” came the soft, sultry, feminine
voice. A slender, tempting silhouette stepped out from the shadows. It wasn’t
one he recognized.
    “Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?” He
tried to discern any distinguishing characteristics that might help him
identify his company.
    “Is that really so important?” She turned to the
right, looking away from him. “We have not, as of yet, been properly
introduced. However, I believe we could become very well acquainted.”
    Haverton glanced to his left, wondering what … or
perhaps who, she looked at. One could not guarantee privacy in an outdoor area,
he thought. It would not do at all to be caught, but she … whoever she was, was
so very intriguing. And with his chaperone ready to