Once Upon a Kiss (Book Club Belles Society) by Jayne Fresina Read Free Book Online Page B

floor.
    Excessively bored and deciding—in her tipsy state—to rescue the creature before it was squashed, Justina had crawled on her hands and knees through the crowd. But before she could find her target, the haughty gentleman, known to her by then as the Wrong Man, stepped on her fingers and shortly thereafter all hell broke loose. Her indignant howls startled the gentleman so much that he spilled his drink and stepped back, knocking into another man, who subsequently lost his monocle and possibly also some spare coins, down the seldom-troubled cleavage of the exceedingly short and stout Dowager Countess of Somewhere Very Important. Justina supposed that, in the confusion of the moment, the fellow’s immediate instinct had been to retrieve his property before it fell too far into the abyss to be recovered, but his efforts resulted in the indignant lady letting out an ear-piercing squeal that stopped the music. Pandemonium swept the ballroom. People fell like dominoes, not knowing if an escaped circus tiger had somehow appeared in their midst or the place was on fire. As it very nearly was when a candelabra tumbled and flames licked up the wafting pleats of a supper tablecloth. Fortunately someone had the instincts to stamp out the fire and smother it before much damage resulted.
    When Justina was apprehended as the origin of all the commotion, Wainwright the Wrong looked down a yard of nose at her and exclaimed, “You? Again?”
    Justina had advised him to seek the humorous side to it all, but he quite failed to find any.
    “I’m sure mischief earns you a satisfying amount of attention,” he’d muttered, wincing as he backed away from her. “With no beauty at her disposal a young lady must find other ways to be noticed.”
    Having insulted her before the entire room, he then left the place immediately, also taking his handsome friend who had been dancing with Catherine.
    Now here they were again, and she doubted he would find anything remotely funny about this either. Perhaps it would be best not to mention they were already acquainted.

Six
    From a distance he’d mistaken her for a child. She was not very tall, and he certainly would never expect to find a young lady climbing a wall to steal fruit. But the moment he drew closer Darius realized she was most definitely not a little girl. Whether she knew or recognized this fact herself was another matter. The large tear in her skirt—although exposing a portion of undergarments—apparently caused her no embarrassment and was only inconvenient as it prevented her escape. Evidently she was undisciplined, ill-mannered, and a rotten fibber. Under no circumstances was she leaving his property until he found out who she was. Then he would return the woman to her lax guardians and give them a stern lecture about her wild behavior.
    He knew things were different in the country, but he hadn’t expected an encounter with a bonnetless savage in his own orchard.
    Darius had never carried a woman in his life, and this one was a wriggling, noisy creature, causing him to vow silently that such a circumstance would never occur again. But there was something familiar about her.
    Walking with his customary, determined stride through a thickening mist, he made the monumental mistake of turning his head to look at her again.
    He slipped on a softened pear, lost his footing and balance, tripped over a mossy stump while trying to right himself, and finally fell backward, landing with his unwieldy burden sprawled across his torso.
    There followed a shocked moment of silence while he tried to find his bearings again, and then, much to his further indignation, she began to laugh. Rolling off him and onto her knees, she laughed as if she was filled with the noise and had to let it out before it crushed her lungs.
    He groaned, sitting up, clutching the small of his back. “Glad I am you find this amusing.”
    She exhaled another gust of rippling laughter. “Let me help you