The Conquest of Lady Cassandra by Madeline Hunter Read Free Book Online

is.”
    “If I come at all, I come like this.”
    Wishing Aunt Sophie had primped more, Cassandra led the way down the stairs. A hired coach waited on the street. She helped Sophie in and settled across from her. She handed the coachman a piece of paper through the window.
    “You are sure this is where Ambury has his chambers?” she asked Sophie. Her aunt had ruminated for four hours before revealing her advice and her plan. Cassandra was not convinced it was a good one.
    They were to call on Ambury while he was still out of town, but pretend they believed him to be in residence. While insisting on an audience, Cassandra would broach the matter of the letter with a servant or whoever served as caretaker of the building. The hope was that a small bribe would be accepted and the letter produced merely to be rid of their presence.
    “I do not make calls or accept invitations, but I am notwithout friends,” Sophie said. “I obtained the address with one short letter.”
    The coach started to bump and roll on the lanes.
    “Do you remember that time in Saint Petersburg when we called on the Countess Petrovnik and you so impressed her?” Sophie asked.
    “Her brother was in attendance, as I remember.”
    “You captivated them both with your beauty and vivacity. They completely forgot I was in the chamber.”
    “You exaggerate.”
    “Not at all. I am not speaking with any resentment. I am reminding you that my days of dazzling anyone are over, and it will be up to you to impress whomever we confront today. I am only accompanying you because it might be seen as odd if I do not. We cannot have you entering Ambury’s chambers all alone, in broad daylight.”
    Cassandra wanted to say that a simple explanation would solve that problem, except it almost never did. There had been a perfectly logical explanation when she had been compromised by Lakewood. Everyone could see that her absence with Lakewood had been unavoidable, and not some assignation. All the same, they were both expected to snuff any flames of scandal by marrying.
    What a stupid world it was. Yet it was the world in which they lived, and Aunt Sophie was correct. Ambury was not in town, but if someone saw her visit his chambers alone today, there would be hell to pay.
    “Why are you smiling?” Aunt Sophie asked. “Something has put you in a merry mood.”
    “Just imagining what you alluded to makes me laugh. It would be a fine thing to end up compromised when the man isn’t even in the same town as I am.”
    “Odd for you, but odder for him. Picture him returning to learn he stands accused of something he never even had the pleasure of consummating.” Sophie’s expression mimickedAmbury’s confusion, then shocked surprise. They both laughed.
    “Maybe Gerald would call him out if he did not do the right thing,” Cassandra said. “I say, Ambury! I demand satisfaction!”
    “Damnation, sir, I was not even in the same county!” Sophie responded gruffly. “I know there may be celebratory rumors regarding my seductive powers, but even I can’t bed a woman in London when I am in Essex.”
    “Your excuses will not restore my family’s honor. Name your second, or be known as a coward!”
    “I’ll be damned if I will fight over her without having had her!”
    “Then have her, sir, and we will meet the following morning!”
    Cassandra wiped her eyes of tears brought on by her laughter. She found the exchange all the more hilarious because it was not entirely far-fetched.
    Aunt Sophie’s clever repartee also raised her spirits. This was the Aunt Sophie she knew and loved, the one who had given her a home after she had refused to marry Lakewood, the celebrated beauty who had taken her on a lengthy tour of the Continent’s capitals. There was nothing distracted or vague to her right now. She was still the vivacious and somewhat bawdy sophisticate who had entertained princes and their courts for decades.
    The coach stopped, and so did their fun. Sophie