The Lady Most Willing . . . by and Connie Brockway Eloisa James Julia Quinn Read Free Book Online Page A

was rather like Taran’s scrawny arse when he’d run through
     the village trying to shock the vicar’s wife. It was impossible not to look.
    “Ehrm . . . I . . . ehrm . . .” The duke picked up his teacup and drained the dregs.
    “How long do you think it will be before someone saves us?” Marilla said in a breathy
     voice.
    “We are hardly in danger, Miss Marilla,” Bretton replied.
    “Still.” She sighed dramatically. “Ripped from our homes.”
    “From Lady Cecily’s home,” Catriona corrected, still focusing on her food. She couldn’t
     look up. She really couldn’t. The way Marilla was shaking about, she was terrified
     by what she might see.
    “Still,” Marilla said, with a touch less sweetness and light than the “still” she’d
     directed at the duke. “Whatever shall we do to occupy ourselves?” she continued.
    “I believe Miss Burns suggested tossing a caber,” Bretton remarked.
    Marilla blinked. “Oh, but you cannot be serious.”
    Catriona looked up just in time to see him give a falsely modest shrug. “I don’t see
     why I couldn’t give it a try,” he murmured. “Besides, did you not just praise my fine
     sense of sportsmanship?”
    “But Your Grace,” Marilla said. “Have you ever seen a caber?”
    “Miss Burns tells me it’s a log.”
    “Yes, but it’s— Oh!”
    “Oh my heavens, I’m so sorry,” Catriona said. “I have no idea how my jam flew off
     my spoon like that.”
    Marilla’s eyes narrowed to slits, but she said nothing as she picked up her serviette
     and wiped the red blob off her chest before it slid into the deep, dark crevasse between
     her breasts.
    If the duke thought that a caber was a simple little log, Catriona wasn’t going to
     let Marilla tell him otherwise.
    “Oh dear me,” Marilla said, leaning toward the duke. “I can’t reach the butter.”
    Bretton dutifully reached out for the butter, which was to his right, and Catriona
     watched with amazement as Marilla scooted even closer to him while he wasn’t looking
     at her. When he turned around, she was just a few inches away, batting her lashes
     like butterfly wings.
    If Catriona hadn’t disliked Marilla for so many years, she would have been impressed.
     Really, one had to give the girl credit for persistence.
    The duke shot Catriona a look that said clearly, Save me , and she was trying to figure out precisely how she might accomplish this when they
     all heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Lord Oakley arrived on the scene, and
     Bretton shot to his feet to greet his friend.
    “Oakley!” he said, with enough enthusiasm that Lord Oakley’s expression took on a
     vague tinge of alarm.
    “Bret,” Lord Oakley said slowly, glancing about the room as if waiting for someone
     to jump out and yell, “Surprise!”
    “Join us,” the duke ordered. “Now.”
    “Good morning, Lord Oakley,” Marilla said.
    Oakley glanced down at her and flinched.
    “You remember Miss Marilla,” Bretton said.
    “Oh, don’t be silly,” Marilla said with a laugh that set her all a-quivering. “How
     could he possibly forget any of us?”
    Lord Oakley made haste to the sideboard, piling his plate with food.
    “Miss Burns and I were just finishing,” Bretton said quickly.
    Catriona felt her lips part, and she almost said, We were? But the duke shot her a look of such desperation, all she could do was nod and grunt,
     “Mmm-hmm,” over the giant forkful of eggs she’d just thrust into her mouth.
    “You may keep Miss Marilla company,” the duke said to Lord Oakley.
    Catriona shoveled two more bites of food into her mouth, watching Marilla as she eyed
     Lord Oakley assessingly.
    The poor man was an earl, Catriona thought with a twinge of guilt. Marilla was going
     to be on to him like . . .
    Well, like she’d been on to the duke.
    Still, Catriona couldn’t be expected to save everyone from Marilla, and the duke had
     asked first . . .
    Silently, but still. She’d got his