Laurie Brown by Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake Read Free Book Online Page B

recollection I had the misfortune
     to have my pistol misfire during a duel.The affronted husband defending his wife’s honor aimed for my...leg, and he managed
     to plant a bullet directly in my heart.Wingate always was a dreadful shot.”
    “You don’t seem bitter.”
    “It happened a very long time ago. Oh, I railed at the perceived injustice at first. After all, I had never touched his wife,much
     to her dismay. My particular code of ethics, lax though it may have been, did not include tupping the wives of my friends.”
    Amelia choked and coughed to hide a little moan of dismay.
    Josie was not fooled by Amelia’s cover-up or by Deverell’s attempt to shock. “Quite noble of you, I’m sure.”
    “Dining lasted several hours and was considered an entertainment as well as a meal, thus the elaborate presentations,” Amelia
     said.
    Deverell continued speaking as if he hadn’t heard Josie’s caustic comment or Amelia’s feeble attempt at changing the subject.
     “I would have laughed at his challenge and settled the matter over a glass at the club, but poor Wingate challenged me in
     the midst of a crowded ballroom. I was forced to defend my honor, if not that of a lady love.”
    “You sound more sorry for him than for losing your own life.”
    “He was the one shackled to a philandering wife. I had always rather expected to come to a bad end, and I suppose being shot
     was no worse and probably better than I deserved. There was only an instant of burning pain, and then I seemed to view the
     entire debacle as if floating above the field in a balloon.” He snapped his fingers. “Then blackness.”
    “No beckoning light?”
    “Nothing but stifling, unrelenting blackness. A void. Emptiness. Even the fires of hell would have provided a welcome diversion.
     Believe me, if there had been any sort of light, I would have gone toward it out of sheer boredom.”
    Though Deverell seemed almost flippant in his manner, Josie saw something else deep in his eyes. Regret? Disappointment? Her
     throat tightened. Maybe this wasn’t such a good topic of conversation. Maybe she didn’t need to know about his death. After
     all, it was his current existence that interested her.“How did you get here?”
    Amelia made a little moaning sound, and Josie glanced over to catch her unusually pale hostess removing the old-fashioned
     smelling salts from her reticule.
    Josie immediately changed the subject. “I find the possibility of eating dessert with the meal quite appealing,” she said.
    Of the same mind, Deverell spoke at the same time. “When dining à la Russe you simply serve yourself from the dishes within your reach.”
    Amelia sneezed and seemed to gather herself. After blinking a few times, she resumed her history lecture as if she’d not been
     interrupted by her unruly student. “Women took extremely small portions. Not only were large lumps of food on the plate considered
     vulgar, but certain foods were deemed inappropriate for a delicate constitution. They spent much of the evening with their
     hands in their laps.”
    “Must make it hard to pass the potatoes,” Josie muttered under her breath.
    “Dishes were not passed from hand to hand as in a boarding house,” Deverell interjected with a curl of his lip.
    “What if I want something beyond my reach?” Josie asked. She regretted her phrasing when Deverell raised an eyebrow.
    “A man might offer a choice morsel of something within his reach to the woman seated next to him,” Amelia said.
    “That was considered a signal of preference.
    Miss Drummond will have no need to allow such intimacies,” Deverell said.
    “She certainly can if she wants to.”
    “As my mother’s guest, her reputation must be above reproach.”
    “It will hardly be considered improper for her to accept a tidbit of food.”
    “Guys,” Josie said, waving her hands to get their attention.“There’s no need to talk about me as if I weren’t here.”
    Amelia apologized to