The Most Wicked Of Sins by Kathryn Caskie Read Free Book Online

fighting back a grin. She snapped open her fan, concealing her flushed cheeks as she waved it before her face. She swayed slightly from side to side but did not say another word as the carriage barreled through the streets.
    Yes, Nick decided, tonight would be most fascinating indeed.

Chapter 4
Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.
    Harold Coffin

    Only a clutch of minutes later, they arrived at their destination. The carriage door opened, and Ivy and her Lord Counterton stepped out on the pavers before the grand St. James’s Royal Hotel, where, as promised, her dear brother Grant was waiting.
p. “I do so appreciate your support, Grant,” Ivy whispered.
    Grant leaned close as if to peck her cheek, but whispered into her ear instead, “So long as I am not hauled before a magistrate, I am at your disposal, Ivy.” He straightened and smile overbrightly at her.
    “Always the jester.” Ivy turned to her actor, who tipped his head to Grant.
    A well-dressed couple, thankfully unknown to her, cast curious glances at the three of them as they passed by. Her actor’s eyes nervously sought out Ivy’s.
    Lud, there were others milling about, and she hadn’t thought about a plausible story about how Lord Counterton had come to know the Sinclairs.
    Ivy opened her mouth to speak, but Grant nodded in greeting. “Lord Counterton, how good to see you again.”
    “Good evening, Lord Grant,” her pretender replied instantly. “Yes, it has been far too long.”
    Oh, Siusan had been ever so brilliant in suggesting that she engage an actor. He was perfect. So natural. She exhaled, and felt her nerves begin to untangle.
    Ivy looped her left arm through Grant’s, then her right through her actor’s and started them all toward the doorway, whispering as they walked. “Unfortunately,
Lord Counterton,
we shall be required to pass through the main dining room to reach the private saloon I have arranged for us.” Of course, that was the entire point of discussing her plan there. It was his first test—to be sure he could move comfortably and naturally within elevated Society. She simply could not hire him, no matter how lovely he looked, if he could not blend with his betters.
    Ivy slowed her step to a crawl as it suddenly occurred to her that this outing was actually his second test, not his first. The first had been his kiss. She smiled as she rapidly increased her pace again, pulling the men along with her.
The kiss.
Well, he’d passed that challenge most admirably.
    Grant shot Ivy a sidelong glance, then tugged gently on her arm, making her realize she’d nearly broken into a trot. “From what I have heard, London is usually deserted during the month of August for grouse season, if you can imagine such a thing, but the ridiculous amount of rain has chased nearly everyone back from the country. Nothing to do in the country when you can’t leave the house, I suppose.”
    “With the right company, there is actually quite a variety of diversions in the country,” her Lord Counterton replied.
    “Good heavens, do you truly believe that?” Ivy replied. She was sure he didn’t, or perhaps he just didn’t know better. He was not, she assumed, raised with the best of everything available to him, as she had been.
    “I do. I find the country far superior to Town in every”—he broke off for a moment and peered intently at her before amending his position—“in
most
every way.”
    It was queer the way he had looked at her. Unsettling, because she didn’t know what to make of it.
    “Well, you may be correct,” Grant said as they approached the hotel entrance. “Perhaps our experience differs from yours. Sitting in a huge old stack of stone never compared to dining and dancing in the finest establishments in Edinburgh.”
    Liveried footmen in pale blue opened the doors for them, and they went inside the St. James’s Royal Hotel.
    Ivy lifted her eyes to peer up at her actor as they