What Lucinda Learned by Beth Bryan Read Free Book Online Page B

rushed on. “Cinda, Mr. Devereux has Castor and Pollux!”
    “You have, sir? I cannot tell you what a relief that is. We have been so worried since Lord Mountmellor died.” And Lucinda beamed on him.
    “Mountmellor was my godfather, Miss Neville. He left me his stables, including the horses you mention.”
    “We knew he had no family and we were so anxious...”
    “Forgive me, Miss Neville, but why?” Lucinda and Will stared at him. Mr. Devereux smiled slightly. “I only received the horses last week. Any of their papers will have been sent to my place in Devon.”
    “So,” said Will, “you haven’t had a chance to look at their bloodlines sir? Lucinda’s papa bred ’em, out of Jupiter. You’ll have heard of him.”
    “Only their mother died just after she foaled,” put in Lucinda. “We had to raise them by hand.”
    “When Lucinda says ‘we,’ she means she did. She even persuaded her father to let her sleep in the stable—with her maid, of course.”
    “I shouldn’t think Emmie has forgiven me yet,” Lucinda said, chuckling. “But they were so very tiny and they had to be fed every three to four hours, so it was quite absurd to be running between the house and stables all night.”
    “And Lucinda was the only one they’d either of ’em take the milk from.”
    “You seem to have a veritable knack for such animals, Miss Neville.”
    “She does, she does. Why, she’s as good as the local horse doctor any day.”
    “Will,” Lucinda protested. “Mr. Devereux doesn’t want—”
    “In fact,” Will went on, unheeding, “if one of my cattle were sick, I’d as lief have Lucinda anytime.”
    Lucinda flushed. “Don’t be absurd, Will. You know that I couldn’t do surgery or the like and you must—”
    “And she rides to perfection.” Will was, it seemed, determined to boast of Lucinda’s talents. “Firm seat, hands like a feather, able to manage the strongest horse, even though she looks like a little bit of a thing.”
    Mr. Devereux eyed Lucinda’s slender figure. “I’m sure you are a famous rider, Miss Neville, but were you not dismayed when your father sold Castor and Pollux?”
    “I saw them regularly at Lord Mountmellor’s. But indeed I was greatly worried over what would become of them. I am glad to be reassured.”
    “Are you so sure they will be safe with me?”
    Lucinda stared at Mr. Devereux, whip extraordinaire and member of the Four-in-Hand Club. Doubt flickered in her eyes. “W-what do you mean?”
    Richard bestowed one of his rare smiles on her. “I am merely reminding you to take nothing for granted, Miss Neville. I shall indeed take good care of the horses, but you should enquire further.” He held out his hand. “I shall submit myself to your cross-examination, if you will submit to the next dance.”
    Lucinda was so very far from availing herself of this permission that she said nothing at all for the first few moments of the dance. Belle was right about Mr. Devereux’s dancing ability, she thought, her gaze resolutely fixed on the floor. Hitherto, she had been partnered by young men as green and nervous as herself. But this...
    “Now, Miss Neville...” Mr. Devereux sounded amused. “I am sure those are charming slippers you are wearing, but you are permitted occasionally to glance at your partner, you know. Not even the strictest duenna would forbid it.”
    Lucinda chuckled. “Ah, but sir,” she said, peeping up at him through those long, sweeping lashes, “if I were to miss my step, everyone would know it was my fault. For how could the accomplished Beau Devereux be so clumsy?”
    To say that Mr. Devereux was enchanted would be too much. But he was amused—and a little intrigued. The little Neville, he told himself, was something out of the usual style.
    In her endeavours not to stare too directly at him, Lucinda had been scanning the crowded dance floor. Now her glance focussed on a couple gliding by. Even in that dazzling company the woman stood