Major Wyclyff's Campaign (A Lady's Lessons, Book 2) by Jade Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

act of handing his horse to a servant, turning slightly as he searched for the source of the muffled voice. "I beg your pardon?"
    "I said, 'She will not receive you.'"
    The sound came from behind him, and Anthony once again twisted awkwardly, scanning the near gardens for the source of the female voice. The woman emerged slowly, backing out from beneath a large hedge, her round posterior quivering as she wiggled and twisted.
    Lady Agatha, Sophia's aunt.
    "These vines are terribly difficult," she muttered as she tugged on a rather long and twisted vine of unknown progeny. "They were a special gift from a dear but dotty old friend, imported from the Continent. The plant, not the friend. I thought to simply kill the thing, but everywhere I turn, there it is again, growing in the most difficult places. Here," she continued, pushing the greenery in question into his hand. "Have a tug."
    Anthony had no choice. Good manners insisted that he comply with the lady's request. Wrapping the vine around his glove, he pulled... to no avail.
    "Come now, Major," Lady Agatha chided as she finally stepped out of the shrubbery, her ribbons trailing behind her. "Put your back into it."
    "Perhaps your gardener..."
    "Nonsense. This will take but a moment."
    Anthony sighed, impatient to see Sophia, but the girl's aunt appeared blithely ignorant of his desires. Finally giving in to the inevitable, he put aside his wrapped package and added his other hand to the first and began to tug.
    Nothing.
    Frowning, he set his feet wider and pulled again. This time, he was rewarded with a slight hitch as at least one root gave way.
    "Oh, bravo, Major. Please, keep pulling."
    "Madame—"
    "Pull!" The lady added force to her command by laying her hands on top of his and adding her own bulk to his weight. Together they hauled on the vine while her ribbons brushed his nose and fluttered in his eyes.
    "Madame," Anthony sputtered. "Your bows... madame!"
    But it was too late. Though he tried to fight the urge, the sneeze was as undeniable as the persistent tickle of her ribbons. It exploded through him with the force of a gale, ripping the roots from the soil and throwing both him and Lady Agatha backward.
    He landed flat on his gift of fashionable unmentionables and skidded directly into a patch of mud.
    "Bravo, Major!" Lady Agatha cried as she tumbled off of him, further mangling what was left of his package. "I feel certain we have finished this usurper once and for all!" She waved the uprooted vine, then gained her feet, calmly shifting the vine to inspect its dirty base. "Oh, bother! I thought you would be strong enough to get more of the root system." She sighed heavily. "But I supposed there is a limit to what even a major of His Majesty's army can achieve."
    Anthony did not dare comment; he was busy surveying the damage done to the poor corset, not to mention his now soiled attire. Surveying his damaged gift, he realized the shopkeeper had been less than expert in his wrapping. The box had split open and a whalebone corner had cleaved a deep rut through the mud.
    Really, he thought as he lifted the item from the muck, why did women subject themselves to such torment? The corset looked most uncomfortable to him.
    "A corset, Major? That is a tad unusual."
    He glanced up, feeling his face heat to the roots of his hair. "Lady Sophia suggested, um, that I purchase her new ones as I, uh, ruined her—"
    "Ah, yes, that silly ritual." Lady Agatha shook her head and turned away. "I thought it would be good for her at the time, but I can see it has just confused her mind even more."
    Anthony frowned as the lady began walking away. Confused her mind? Perhaps this sweet lady possessed the answer to Sophia's strange behavior. "Lady Agatha," he called as he hurried to catch up with her. "What do you mean, confused her mind?"
    "Hmmm? Oh, she wished to be rid of everything related to London, and burying corsets has always sounded like a perfectly delightful thing to me, so I