The Viscount's Revenge (The Royal Ambition Series Book 4) by M. C. Beaton Read Free Book Online

me as I was humiliated this evening.”
     
    “I was humiliated too,” said Amanda in a low voice. She told him of Lord Hawksborough’s remark to the earl.
     
    “How dare he!” she went on passionately. “Are we not as good as they? Even the lord lieutenant of the county, Sir Percival Jenks, would not treat us so.” A mischievous smile curved her lips and she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees in a most unladylike manner. “I say, Richard,” she said softly, “would it not be extremely humiliating for my Lord Hawksborough to be held up by two highwaymen, one of them on a donkey?”
     
    Richard grinned back and then his face grew serious. “I had better ride into Bellingham in the morning and find out how many servants they have. It would not be at all funny if they were armed—well, they will be armed of course—what I am trying to say is that it would be disastrous if they should be young, alert servants who would shoot us on sight.”
     
    “I think it would be infinitely worse if we shot anyone ourselves.”
     
    “I thought of that,” said Richard simply, “and I shall not load the pistols.”
     
    Amanda looked at her brother thoughtfully. She was glad he did not propose to leave her out of the venture, but on the other hand it would be a
start
if one’s brother saw one as a frail female to be defended from the cares of the world.
     
    But instead she asked, “Are the pistols in good condition? I have not used one since you taught me how to shoot two years ago.”
     
    “I cleaned and oiled them and refaced the flints,” said Richard. The Colbys both knew that in a flintlock pistol, the contact of flint and steel caused the flint to chip away slightly at every shot.
     
    Neglect led to misfires, the average being one misfire for every thirty-eight successful shots. “Not that I’m going to load them, as I said,” pointed out Richard, “but there is something very deadly about a well-cleaned, well-oiled pistol.”
     
    “Do you think,” ventured Amanda cautiously, “that we will wake up tomorrow and find our tempers have cooled and that the whole thing is all rather childish?”
     
    “No,” said Richard grimly, “I want revenge.”
     
    “Perhaps if I had not spent so much time with the wicked Lord Hawksborough, I might have attracted some other man. Several young gentlemen told me… oh, so many flattering things.” Amanda sighed.
     
    “That’s because I told m’friends to,” said Richard heartlessly. “Thought it would put that Priscilla Brotherington’s nose out of joint a little.”
     
    “Oh,” said Amanda in a small voice. Then her face brightened. “But several of them were
not
your friends, Richard, and they said pretty things too.”
     
    “Eh?” Richard studied his sister. Her face was tired and wan and her coronet of leaves had curled and drooped. “Better stick to robbery,” he said in a kind, brotherly voice.
     
    “Oh,” said Amanda dismally. “Did… did… you meet any pretty girls, Richard?”
     
    “Scores of ’em,” he said, looking infuriatingly smug. “There was one girl called Belinda Tring-Carter. She had the neatest figure you ever saw, and lots and lots of glossy, smooth curls… like… like silk. I danced with her twice. You know, Amanda, I’m glad we went to that assembly. I’ve realised that it might be jolly to set up house on one’s own with a pretty charmer. Also, that wretched Devine female gave me just the courage I need to hold up Hawksborough’s coach.”
     
    “
She
won’t be in it.”
     
    “Oh, don’t be too sure of that,” said Richard. “There was gossip flying about that she and Lord Hawksborough are expected to make a match of it.”
     
    “Then they are very well suited,” snapped Amanda.
     
    She had a throbbing pain over her right temple and was overcome with a sudden desire to get away from her brother for the first time in her life. He was the only man she had ever been close to, and she thought