The Wedding Runaway by Katy Madison Read Free Book Online

looked up at the imposing façade of the Grosvenor Square town home. In America most of the houses were constructed with wood or brick , but in London a lot of the houses had a stone exterior , or at the very least plaster covering brick, as if naked houses were too bourgeois. The façade of Victor ' s house fairly glowed with gray-veined white marble. An air of permanence and prestige hung about the square. A reminder that England was centuries old , settled and matured , with a patina of grace covering all.
    There was a certain appeal to the eternalness , although Lydia liked America ' s ideals better. Here one had to be born to privilege and to govern; in America any man could advance to the highest position in the land , merely by the sweat of his brow.
    Any man , that is. A woman ' s options in both countries were limited to marriage or what little she could earn in a drudgery or illicit work.
    Lydia sighed as she was led through the impressive house to the drawing room. Tired of pretending to be a man , yet unwilling to return home , she felt trapped. She would have to be insufferably rude to Victor. She could think of no other way to repulse him.
    She should just return to Boston and marry Mr. Sullivan. Yet , that was just as bad. She could travel on to France or Italy , but she was hindered by not knowing even a smattering of the language.
    Her education had centered around learning to play the spinet and the fine art of painting with water colors. Oh she had been taught enough arithmetic to manage a household , but algebra had been deemed to be beyond her female brain. No , instead she had been taught to sew.
    The butler opened the drawing room door , and he announced , " Mr. Leonard Hall. "
    Good gracious , these aristocracy folks could be so formal , thought Lydia as she stepped into the room and realized there were other people in the room. Oh!
    As he introduced her to his other guests , Victor ' s guiding hand at her shoulder shot tingles through her.
    How could she be rude in front of these other people? As she made a leg to the two women introduced to her , dismay tied her tongue. She had a whole string of insulting comments on English values , but she hadn ' t been raised to be rude to a host in front of guests. As much as she needed away from Victor ' s patronage , she didn ' t want all of London thinking Americans were boorish louts.
    Perhaps she could get Victor alone later. No , wait , she didn ' t want be alone with him. Then the butler announced dinner and she trailed after the others to the dining room like a barely tolerated child.
    She concentrated on eating and almost keeled over in embarrassment when at one point Victor gently told her to carve the dish of partridges placed beside her.
    Normally , her table manners were impeccable. As the sole female in her house, it had fallen to her to be in charge of such matters around the dinner table , but she had forgotten that in her role as a male she had different responsibilities.
    That should have been enough reminder , but when everyone stood and she started to trail out behind Sophie and Amelia , Victor had been more impatient.
    " Sit , cub. Do the gentlemen in America not linger over their port after the ladies withdraw? "
    She shook her head, mortified at her gaff. A footman placed three glasses on the table , poured a dark red liquid into them , and left the bottle on the table.
    " Now , that is just us...men , Lenny. Perhaps it is time you told me why you have run away from home. "
    Lydia didn ' t know which distressed her more , that long pause before he called them all men , or that he had guessed she had run away.
    Two pairs of dark eyes bored into her. But Victor ' s bothered her more. They made her want to squirm. " I ' m sure I don ' t know what you are talking about. "
    She grabbed for her glass of wine and sloshed it on her sleeve. She stared at the growing stain on her arm , and steeled herself to be insulting.
    " Come now , Lenny. You do