Mad About the Earl by Christina Brooke Read Free Book Online Page B

afternoon.” Montford pursed his lips. “Someone ought to go with Rosamund.”
    “I would, but I am not out yet,” said Cecily.
    “Thank Heaven for small mercies,” Xavier murmured, earning a gurgle of laughter from her.
    Montford looked pointedly at Lydgate. “That leaves you.”
    “Eh?” Lydgate sat up straighter, alarm written across his classically handsome features. “Now, look here, sir.…”
    “Tibby will accompany me,” said Rosamund quietly, touching her napkin to her lips. “You needn’t put yourself into a stew, Andy.”
    Tibby was formerly the girls’ governess, now their companion. A quiet yet strong-minded woman who was more than a match for Lady Steyne. Montford nodded. “Very well. That’s settled, then.”
    Cecily’s dark eyes challenged Lydgate. “Coward.”
    Between his teeth, Lydgate said, “I have another engagement.”
    “ I know why he won’t escort Rosamund to see her mama,” pursued Cecily, her black ringlets bobbing with certainty. “It’s because Lady Steyne makes love to him with her eyes.”
    “Nonsense, Cecily,” snapped Andrew. “I’m practically her nephew.”
    “Only through several marriages,” she countered.
    Abruptly, Xavier rose, threw down his napkin, and strode to the door.
    “Damn it, Cecily!” hissed Andrew as he pushed back his chair, his mouth turned down in disgust. “That’s his mama you’re talking about, and Rosamund’s, too.”
    With a stricken glance at Montford, Cecily said, “I—I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—”
    “No, that’s quite all right, dear,” said Rosamund. She gave Cecily’s hand a quick squeeze, but her gaze was fixed on the door through which her brother had left. With a forced smile, she added, “Mama is … incorrigible. I’ve always known it.”
    Montford said, “Lydgate’s right. You go beyond the line of what is pleasing, Cecily.”
    Cecily bit her lip. “Yes, Your Grace. I’ll apologize to Xavier.”
    “No,” said Lydgate. “Leave him be.”
    Silence reigned, punctuated only by the clink of cutlery on china, while Montford perused the rest of his post and the others pretended to eat their breakfast. Finally, he came to a missive that made his eyebrows climb.
    “Ah,” he murmured. His gaze flickered to Rosamund. “It seems you have won the first skirmish, my dear. Your betrothed is on his way to London.”
    Rosamund choked on a morsel of toast and hastily grabbed Cecily’s coffee to wash it down. Her hand shook as she replaced the cup on its saucer.
    He was coming for her? Apprehension seized her, mushrooming into fully blown panic.
    Oh, how foolish! She’d demanded Griffin’s presence in London, hadn’t she? But she hadn’t thought he’d give in so soon—or at all! Despite her ridiculous longing for him, she was totally discomposed by his sudden capitulation.
    “He’s coming?” she managed. “Here?”
    “Yes.” Montford fixed his penetrating gaze upon her. “It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
    “I’ve rather been looking forward to making the earl’s acquaintance myself,” drawled Lydgate. His words were idle, but the steel in his eyes belied the studied nonchalance.
    That snapped Rosamund out of her panic. In a warning tone, she said, “Andy.”
    Her cousin blinked at her innocently. “What, my dearest?”
    She bit her lip against a smile. “I want him alive, do you hear me? Promise me you won’t do anything to him. Unless I give you leave, of course.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Define anything .”
    “He’s a big man,” put in Cecily. “Quite monstrous, in fact. I doubt even you could beat him if it came to fisticuffs, Andy.”
    “That shows how much you know about the noble art of boxing,” said Lydgate, an anticipatory gleam in his eye. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall, eh, Your Grace?”
    Montford inclined his head in assent. “Though I wonder a little at your describing your, er, novel mode of pugilism as either noble or an art, Lydgate. Regardless, you