To Tame a Dragon by Megan Bryce Read Free Book Online

daughter has more of the idea.
     I’m afraid only a fairly special girl would be able to handle
     me.”
    Amelia scoffed. “The devil wouldn’t be able
     to handle you.”
    He smiled. “Well, certainly something with horns and fire could.”
    Lady Beckham looked at the scowl on her
     daughter’s face. She looked at the focused smile on Jameson’s
     face.
    Oh, dear. This would change a few
     things. Now she could see why Amelia had been so agitated
     yesterday.
    Amelia filled her plate. “The green is too
     public. Let’s ease you, not dump you, back into society.”
    “You’ll have to ease me back in quickly, my
     dear. I’ve already accepted an invitation to the Gratham’s
     ball.”
    Amelia’s plate hit the table with a thud.
     “Jameson! Can you not consult me before you go haring off? We
     must orchestrate your entrance with Clarice. We don’t know if
     she is going and I was planning on keeping the two of you
     separated for a while.” She shook her head. “Gratham’s will be a
     madhouse. A ball!”
    “Both Robin and you have told me that Miss
     Underwood is fine, that she’ll be finding herself married in no
     time.”
    “That is true, but that doesn’t mean you can
     act like it never happened. Let people get used to you again,
     let the rumors die down.” She looked to her mother. “I don’t
     suppose he can cancel?”
    Lady Beckham shook her head. “It will be all
     over London by now. Lady Gratham will have the hit of the year.”
    Amelia glowered at Jameson. “You make my life
     very difficult. Please restrict yourself to a daily visit to
     your club; we shall simply have to make a grand entrance work.
     Do you think you can restrain yourself from any other grand
     gestures until then?”
    He bowed. “Until then, my dear. And you know
     I would apologize if it weren’t true that you were getting as
     bored with hiding as I was. No stroll through the green then?”
    Amelia refused to answer such a rhetorical
     question and began eating quickly.
    “I must go and warn Clarice. If we have any
     luck at all she will not have accepted yet.” She glared at
     Jameson. “I am not counting on it.”

    Amelia arrived quite early at the
     Underwood’s. Too early, in fact. But it was an emergency, and
     she informed the butler of that when he refused to show her in.
    Amelia had already won against this opponent
     and she knew his weakness. “She’s learned of it already, I suppose.
     Crying? Hysterics? The whole household in an uproar? I am always
     too late. One of these times I hope to get here and prevent the
     hullabaloo in the first place. When there is a break, please
     inform Miss Underwood I was here.”
    She was, unsurprisingly, shown in. She was
     left waiting longer than she expected, but not everyone was as
     early a riser as she.
    Clarice looked apprehensive when she entered
     the drawing room. “Lady Amelia? What is the matter?”
    “As always, it is Jameson making a muddle of
     things. I am sorry to come so early, but I had hoped to arrive
     before any invitations were accepted and dispatched. The
     Gratham’s ball?”
    Clarice shook her head slowly. “We can not
     attend. Papa had already invited a small party to dinner for
     that night.”
    Amelia slumped in her seat, a breath escaping
     her. Then she laughed and straightened. “I was so sure this was
     going to be a catastrophe. But luck has held!”
    “Lady Amelia, I am lost. What is happening at
     the Gratham’s ball that would have been so disastrous?”
    “Jameson accepted. He’s beginning to go out
     in society again but nowhere you would see each other. I had
     planned to keep him circulating on the fringes but he jumped in
     without consulting me. It’s really starting to become a
     problem.”
    Clarice looked out the window a moment before
     nodding. “I am not ready to see him yet. I have felt confident
     knowing I wouldn’t run into him, but now... how do I act? I
     can’t give him the cut direct,