Last Night's Scandal by Loretta Chase Read Free Book Online Page B

confines of her hat and pins, and made it shimmer like garnets.
    When she came alongside him, he still hadn’t caught his breath.
    “You’ve no idea the difficulty I had getting away from Bailey,” she said. “You’d think she’d be glad to be excused, as she hates riding in Town, but no, she was determined to come with me. I had the devil’s own time persuading her to stay and allay suspicion . As it was, I was obliged to take a groom.” She tipped her beplumed head in the direction of a young male in livery trailing at a tactful distance behind her. “Not that you and I have anything to hide, but all the family are vexed with me for getting you into the fight with Belder.”
    “I got myself into it,” he said.
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    “Your eye is very bad,” she said, leaning forward a little to peer at it.
    “It looks worse than it is,” he said. “Nichols knows how to treat these things.” If he hadn’t known, that eye would be swollen shut at present. “It’ll turn a few ugly colors over the next few days, and then it’ll fade. My mouth, as you have no doubt observed with regret, is not so much damaged as you thought.”
    “You are not as pretty as you were at the ball,” she said. “Mama had a lively description of the fight and your injuries from somebody, and she’s furious. She says I ought to keep away from you. She says you have enough difficulties without my getting you into trouble.”
    “Nonsense,” he said. “Who will I talk to if you keep away? Come along. It’s too noisy here.”
    Though the park itself was deserted—by the haut ton, at any rate—Hyde Park Corner bustled. Peddlers, milkmaids, soldiers, and loiterers of all sorts crowded the pavement. On the Knightsbridge Road, the Royal Mail and the stagecoaches vied for space with lowly farm wagons, elegant private carriages, riders, and pedestrians. Stray children, cats, and dogs darted among the vehicles and horses.
    It was here, at Hyde Park Corner, that their first adventure together had begun. The memory came back vividly: Olivia, standing with a surly ox of a boy . . . Lisle having to beat the boy out of the way . . . then climbing onto a farm wagon after her. . .
    Every time he awaited her, he expected the skinny girl he used to know, with her striking hair and eyes. Every time, seeing her as she was now threw him off balance. He still wasn’t used to the beauty she’d become. It almost hurt to look at her face, and the soft curves of her body—which the snug tailoring of her riding dress emphasized—made a muddle of feelings inside.
    Wrong feelings. They were the kind any attractive woman could inspire in a man. Any number of loose women could tend to them.
    What he needed at this moment was a friend and ally.
    Yet even when they entered the park, he found he wasn’t quite ready to talk. He needed to clear the jumbled feelings from his head or his heart—he wasn’t sure where they were, exactly.
    “Race?” he said.
    Her eyes lit.
    Their horses were fresh, happy to gallop westward along the deserted Rotten Row. Her mare was as powerful as his, and she rode with the same skill and daring she applied to everything in her life. He won, but not by much, and at the end, they were laughing—at themselves, and at the sheer pleasure of a gallop on a fine autumn morning.
    They eased to a trot, then headed further into the park.
    When they reached a stand of trees, well out of sight of the more traveled pathways, they slowed their mounts to a walk.
    Then he told her what had happened.
    “They’ve cut you off?” she said incredulously. “But they can’t! You’ll go mad here. You must return to Egypt.”
    “I told you they were determined to keep me home,” he said. “I didn’t realize how Page 29
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    determined. I thought they might settle down after a while, or