A Breath of Scandal by Elizabeth Essex

Author:Elizabeth Essex [Essex, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Usernet, C429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781250003805
Publisher: St. Martin's
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Will Jellicoe sat looking for all the world like a dashing Corinthian, his boots propped casually against the muddied dashboard of an elegant racing curricle pulled by a pair of lathered and splattered bays, and driven by an excited, pink-cheeked Thomas. Clearly, they had come at quite a clip.

“Devil take me,” Jellicoe drawled as if he hadn’t just come flying down upon her in the middle of a muddy, crowded street. “Miss Preston, if you haven’t the most remarkable affinity for trouble.”

“Me?” she shot back. “I’m not the one driving like a mad Corinthian. What do you think you’re about?”

He tipped his hat cordially. “I’ve come to save you.”

“From what?”

“From my imagination.” He looked bemused, his brow furrowing even as his lopsided, self-deprecating smile galloped about his mouth, as if he had only just that moment realized what he was about.

“Are you mad?” Antigone sputtered over the beginnings of her own smile.

“Oh, clearly.” His tone was as dry and amusing as the day was wet. “I imagined you quite vividly in any number of dire situations amidst all these desperate ruffians.” He looked askance at the busy commercial order of the street. “I’m keeping a firm eye on that yoke of oxen in particular—they look entirely suspect. I must admit I was hoping to find you had succumbed to a faint, so I might make myself useful by carrying you off heroically.”

“Carrying me?” Antigone wondered if one could catch whimsy like the ague. It was the only explanation for the sudden ridiculous buoyancy of her mood.

“Obviously, I forgot that you never faint.”

“No,” she agreed with a laugh. “I carry sticks”—she reminded him of her gun—“and lethal hunting whips.”

“You are a marvel of capability.”

“Jellicoe, you flatter me. I commend you on your thoughtfulness if not your vivid imagination. I am almost sorry to be so capable that I’ve ruined your plan of heroics.”

“I’m not sorry. I am relieved.” He blew out a deep, gusty breath. “I was giving Thomas particular hell all the way from Downpark for not looking after you properly.”

“Jellicoe,” she chided again. “It is not Thomas’s fault his horse threw a shoe.” She leaned forward to see around Jellicoe. “How is your hunter faring, Master Thomas?”

“Tolerably, Miss Antigone. He is being seen to at Downpark. I walked him the whole way home.”

“I am sorry for your day to end like that—”

“You are not to give him any sympathy,” Jellicoe instructed with mock severity. “It’s only what he deserved for abandoning you, and leaving you in distress.”

“But I’m not in distress.” Quite the opposite, now that her friends were with her.

“He couldn’t know that.” Jellicoe refused to be moved from his unforgiving stance.

“Yes I could.” Thomas was not going to suffer his brother’s wit without defending himself. “I’m a better judge of character, and horsemanship, than you obviously think. I knew she would be fine. You’re the one who—”

“Yes. Thank you, Thomas.” Jellicoe said firmly. “Miss Antigone is nothing if not supremely confident and capable. But what have we here?” Jellicoe was looking up the road.

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