Love for Lucinda by Gayle Buck Read Free Book Online Page A

and stubby lashes. His gold-brown eyes were his most notable feature, while his expression was unceasingly amiable. His attire was never gaudy and was always of an excellent cut. He carried himself well, being an active pursuer of the manly arts of boxing and fencing. Yet he was not above average height, and so when he smiled at Lucinda, he was looking almost directly into her eyes.
    “I shall be in a week or more,” said Lucinda on a laugh. “You can have no notion how many callers I have had, nor what invitations have already come my way. I am persuaded that I shall enjoy the Season very much.”
    Lord Mays glanced approvingly at Lucinda’s fashionable day dress with its knots of dark green satin ribbons and the expensive silk shawl that dipped gracefully from her elbows. He had an instinctive eye for what looked well on man or woman. “You look marvelous, Lucinda. I particularly like that shade of rose on you. You appear for all the world to be the most delicate bloom in the garden.”
    “You are a flatterer, indeed, sir! But come, sit down beside me and tell me how you come to be here this afternoon,” said Lucinda, drawing him over to a settee.
    Lord Mays sat down, casting a disparaging glance about the room as he did so. He put a finger up to the top of his starched white cravat as though it had grown tight, and observed, “I have never liked Mays House. It is not anything in my style.”
    Lucinda glanced around. A peculiar smile played about her mouth. “Yes, it is sinfully ostentatious, is it not?” A thought occurred to her. She turned back to Lord Mays and eyed him curiously. “What will you do with it? Do you ever intend to live here?”
    “Not as long as I have a choice,” said Lord Mays bluntly. “I prefer my own lodgings, as you know. I suppose one day when I marry I shall be forced to take on the place, though. The ladies all seem to like this sort of house.” The despondent observation roused him to confide, “I’ll tell you one thing, though! I would have my bride get rid of all these objets d’art and knackery. As it is, a fellow can scarcely relax at his ease for fear of breaking some vase or other!”
    Lucinda laughed. “I shan’t regard it if you do not. They are all yours, after all!”
    “No, they ain’t,” said Lord Mays with devastating accuracy. “They belonged to my cousin, and they all have his stamp on them. Everything my cousin bought was of the same sort— beautiful, expensive, and useless!”
    As Lucinda’s expression altered, he realized that he had in an oblique fashion insulted her. Quickly, he said, “I don’t mean you, Lucinda! Of course I don’t. Why, you are the one good thing that my cousin brought into this house. I shouldn’t set foot in it at all if it weren’t for you.”
    Lucinda inclined her head with a flickering smile. “You are kind to say so, Wilfred. However, I hope that you will not hesitate to tell me when I am become de trap. I should not wish to stand in the way of your taking possession.”
    “Have no fear of that. You may call this roof your own as long as you wish. I have no desire to live here, but someone must if only to be certain that the place is properly cared for,” said Lord Mays. He grinned at her. “You are doing me a great favor, actually. Otherwise I would have had to continue to pay a caretaker a fortune, probably for years.”
    Lucinda laughed, her countenance alight with amusement “I am happy to have spared you that, at least! You make me feel quite helpful, Wilfred.”
    “I should think so! It’s a pity that you cannot help me with that sprawling barrack that my cousin called a hunting box. Hunting box!” Lord Mays snorted disparagingly. “I am hoping to sell it. I have my man looking into it now. Did you ever see that old abbey that my cousin filled with precious Greek statues and other such claptrap as that? The gloomy place gave me the shivers, let me tell you. I was never more glad than when old Crowley