Snowbound With the Notorious Rake by Sarah Mallory Read Free Book Online Page A

crossly. ‘It is very off-putting.’
    He laughed. ‘Very well. Is there anything you would like me to do?’
    His good-humoured compliance disarmed her. She stood for a moment, wiping her hands on her apron.
    ‘Well,’ she said at last, ‘the table will need to be prepared…’
    ‘Then I shall do that,’ he said promptly. ‘If you are to be cook and serving maid, I will be footman—oh, and butler, of course. I will find a bottle of wine for us to drink!’
     
    The drawing room looked very inviting. The heavy velvet curtains were pulled across the windows to shut out the cold night. On the table, candlelight twinkled on the array of glass and silver, and Sir Lawrence had even collected a few evergreens to decorate the table. A dish of steaming vegetables was placed in the centre and a chicken, golden and succulent, rested on a platter waiting for Sir Lawrence to carve.
    ‘A simple meal,’ declared Rose, surveying her handiwork as she took her place at the table, ‘but I think it preferable to cold meat and cheese!’
    ‘Infinitely so,’ agreed Sir Lawrence. ‘I congratulate you, madam. It looks, and smells, delicious.’ He raised his glass. ‘A toast. To the most resourceful woman of my acquaintance.’
    Rose was thankful for the dim candlelight to hide her blushes.
    ‘It is nothing. Any good housewife could do as much. And credit goes to you, too, sir, for the excellent smoke-jack in the kitchen; it turned the spit most successfully.’
    ‘Ah. That was one of the conditions Mrs Brendon placed upon me when I purchased the place. She said she would not consent to work here unless I improved the kitchen.’
    ‘When did you buy Knightscote?’ she asked him. ‘It is strange we heard nothing of it at Mersecombe.’
    ‘I have owned it for a couple of years now, but I have seldom used it, so my coming made little noise.’
    ‘What, was there no gossip?’ she dared to tease him. ‘Even when you brought your less-than-respectable guests here?’
    He frowned at her, but she was not deceived, for she read the laughter in his eyes.
    ‘Be thankful, Mrs Westerhill, that my disreputable guests did visit, else you would have nothing to wear.’
    Instinctively her hand went up to the neck of the dressing gown.
    ‘I had hoped my own clothes would have been dry by now…’
    ‘I’m afraid we did too good a job of making them damp.’
    Rose bit her lip and tried not to recall her wicked thoughts of that afternoon, but they were always there, in her head.
    ‘At least you are most decorously attired,’ he continued. ‘You have only to cover your hair with that napkin and the result would be positively nun-like!’
    She could not resist a retort.
    ‘Some might suggest it is a necessary defence, sir, given your reputation.’
    He bared his teeth.
    ‘Put away your claws, vixen. I will not fight with you on Christmas Day. Tell me instead about your life in Mersecombe. Do you have a large establishment?’
    ‘No, a modest house with a couple of servants.’
    ‘Yet you keep a groom.’
    ‘Evans has been with me since I was a child. He came with me when I married, and when I sold the house at Exford he agreed to come with me to Mersecombe, although he is obliged to work in the house as well as look after the horses.’ She smiled. ‘They are my one luxury. I will buy a pony for little Sam, when the funds allow. Evans will teach him to ride—he put me on my first pony. I should like him to do the same for my son.’
    ‘It must be hard, bringing up a boy on your own.’
    ‘I have my mother to help me. But you are right, he misses his father. Sam was only four when I was widowed, so I am not sure how much he remembers of his papa.’
    A good thing, perhaps, recalling the tears and the arguments.
    ‘How did he die?’
    Lost in the past, Rose looked at him, uncomprehending, and he said quickly, ‘I beg your pardon, if you would rather not—’
    ‘No, no. I have no objection to telling you. A riding accident. His