Secrets of an Accidental Duchess by Jennifer Haymore Read Free Book Online Page B

shock everyone else into silence again.
    “Really, Sussex is so quiet, I do believe we’d have to conjure a dragon in order to find the need to be protected,” Lady Stratford said.
    “There are dangers in Sussex,” Lady Fenwicke said quietly. “Just not where one might expect.”
    Everyone stared at Lady Fenwicke until the countess broke the silence. “Oh, I do hope you’re wrong. I’ve found it to be very safe indeed, though I admit to not having lived here for very long.”
    Max glanced again at Olivia. The line between her brows had deepened, and he suppressed the urge to smooth it out with his fingertip.
    Lady Stratford rose. Max stood instantly, and the two other sisters and Lady Fenwicke rose as well. Jessicainvited the lady over for tea in a few days’ time, and she accepted with a smile.
    They left, turning from the gravel drive onto the wagon path. Max had a sinking feeling that the unexpected dangers Lady Fenwicke spoke of had to do with her husband. He hoped to hell he was wrong.
    It wasn’t until they turned the bend that hid the elegant house from view that any of them spoke. It was Jessica.
    “I’m going to be a good friend to her,” the youngest sister said solemnly. “I think she needs one.”
    Max nodded. He couldn’t agree more.

Chapter Three
    I t was an unseasonably warm day, and Olivia had sat through the afternoon on the gallery bench, tucked beneath her parasol to protect her complexion from the sun. She was watching the others play—or attempt to play—tennis on the ancient court that had originally been erected on the grounds almost three hundred years ago in honor of Henry VIII’s visit to Stratford House.
    The court was long and narrow with high walls but no roof. One wall had partially crumbled and the uneven floor was not conducive to balls bouncing properly, but Jonathan planned to eventually fix both. In the interim he still enjoyed playing, and he had purchased a new net as well as racquets and balls soon after he’d arrived in Sussex this spring.
    Phoebe and Jessica were trying their best, but they’d never played tennis—it wasn’t a sport they’d ever seen in Antigua, and their lack of skill combined with the cracked floor and the crumbling wall made the game more aboutlaughing, running, and fetching balls than actually hitting them over the net.
    Jonathan and Captain Langley were fairly good, their skills obvious compared to the entirely lacking ones in her sisters, especially Captain Langley’s. And Max… well, he seemed far too large to make any sense of the court and the ball, though he said he’d played on occasion when he was at Cambridge.
    Olivia would have liked to try it, but she knew her sisters and Jonathan would object, and if they did grudgingly allow her to play, they’d be overly solicitous and embarrass her. She didn’t want that kind of attention—not in the presence of their guests.
    She’d long ago come to terms with the fact that her family would always believe that she would fall ill whenever she exerted herself physically. But that didn’t mean she had to agree with them. Once, when she was fourteen and in a particularly rebellious temperament, she had experimented in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep. She’d gone outside and run and run around the plantation. She must have run for an hour without stopping. It had felt so good. By the time she finished, sweat had caked her chemise to her body. And, not surprisingly—to her, at least—she’d felt wonderful the following day, and she hadn’t come down with a fever.
    She’d experimented in later years, too, though less overtly. She was fully convinced that exertion wasn’t what caused the fevers, yet despite her protestations, her family didn’t believe her. They were all convinced that if Olivia exercised, it might kill her.
    Jonathan served. The ball hit the service penthouse and dropped into the gallery. Max tried to return theserve, but he hit the ball straight