Venetia by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online Page A

retorted. “ This   year is quite another matter, however! I own I  had not meant to stay in Yorkshire above a few days, but that was before I made your  acquaintance. I am going to remain at the Priory for the present!”
    “How splendid!” said Venetia affably. “In general it is a trifle dull here, but   that   will be  quite at an end if you are to remain amongst us!” She caught sight of Flurry, called him to heel,  and dropped a slight curtsy. “Goodbye!”
    “Oh, not goodbye!” he protested. “I mean to know you better, Miss Lanyon of
    Undershaw!”
    “To be sure, it   does   seem a pity you should not, after such a promising start, but life, you  know, is full of disappointments, and that, I must warn you, is likely to prove one of them.”
    He fell into step beside her, as she made her way towards the turnstile. “Afraid?” he  asked provocatively.
    “Well, what a stupid question!” she said. “I should have supposed you must have known  yourself to be the ogre who would infallibly pounce on every naughty child in the district!”
    “As bad as that?” he said, rather startled. “Had I better try to retrieve my shocking  reputation, do you think?”
    They had reached the turnstile, and she passed through it. “Oh no, we should have  nothing to talk about any more!”
    “Vixen!” he remarked. “Well—! Tell your lame brother how shamefully I used you, and

    fear nothing! I won‟t pounce on him.”
    III
    venetia went home with her thoughts in quite unaccustomed disorder. Feeling that after  such an agitating experience a period of calm reflection was necessary she walked slowly,
    thinking over all the circumstances of her first encounter with a rake; but after dwelling on the  impropriety of Damerel‟s conduct, and telling herself how fortunate she had been to have  escaped a worse fate, it rather horrifyingly occurred to her that she had shown herself to be  lacking in sensibility. A delicately nurtured female (unless all the books lied) would have  swooned from the shock of being kissed by a strange man, or at the very least would have been  cast into the greatest affliction, her peace cut up, her spirits wholly overpowered. What she  would not have done was to have stayed to bandy words with her wolfish assailant. Nor would  she have been conscious of a feeling of exhilaration. Venetia was very conscious of it. She had  not enjoyed being so  ruthlessly handled, but for one crazy instant she had known an impulse to  respond, and through the haze of her own wrath she had caught a glimpse of what life might be.  Not, of course, that she wished to be mauled by strangers. But if Edward had ever kissed her  thus! The thought drew a smile from her, for the vision of Edward swept out of his rigid  propriety was improbable to the point of absurdity. Edward was sternly master of his passions;  she wondered, for the first time, if these were very strong, or whether he was, in fact, rather  coldblooded.
    The question, being of no particular moment, remained unanswered; Damerel, entering  rudely on to the scene, instantly dominated it, and whether he was the villain or merely a minor  character it was useless to deny that he had infused life into a dull play.
    Venetia found it hard to make up her mind what to tell Aubrey. If she disclosed her  meeting with Damerel he might ask her questions she would find it difficult to answer; on the  other hand, if she said nothing, and Damerel did succeed in improving his acquaintance with her,  he would certainly make Aubrey‟s acquaintance too; and although he could scarcely be so  shameless as to refer to the nature of his previous encounter with her he might well mention that  he had met her before, which would surely make Aubrey think it odd of her not to have told him  of so unprecedented an event. Then she thought that the likeliest chance was that Damerel had no  real intention of remaining at the Priory, and decided to