Miss Ryder's Memoirs by Laura Matthews

Author:Laura Matthews [Matthews, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Regency Romance
ISBN: 9780451155450
Google: bfrtC0ob4e8C
Amazon: B00405R5WM
Barnesnoble: B00405R5WM
Goodreads: 5002912
Publisher: Signet
Published: 1988-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The next day there was a letter from my friend Lady Sutton. I took it from Williams, called to Dutch to accompany me, and wandered out into the morning sunlight to read it. Dutch was in one of his rare playful moods and refused to let me concentrate on the three-page missive. First he tugged at my shoelaces and then he insisted on putting his stubby paws on my knees, the farthest he could reach.

“Go away, you pesky dog,” I admonished him. But he would have none of it. With baleful eyes he began a mournful groan that sounded much like a cow in pain. “Now stop that!”

“He merely wants your attention,” a familiar voice informed me.

Sir John was dressed for riding, as he had been in my dream the previous evening, and I was hard-pressed not to blush. The rest of my body, too, had a decided response to his presence, which I vainly attempted to ignore. “Why don’t you pay some attention to him?” I suggested.

His eyes crinkled with mirth. “This throat-ripping hound? I wouldn’t dare get within ten feet of the brute.”

Nonetheless, he picked up a stick and threw it for Dutch. Now Dutch is not really a retriever type of dog, but he was taken with the baronet and dutifully loped over to where the stick had fallen. Rather than pick it up, he stood guard over it until Sir John in frustration called him back.

“Just what is this animal capable of doing?” he inquired.

“Not much, but he’s the most loyal beast in nature.” I gave a little shake to the letter I held, eyeing him carefully as I said, “Now, if you want to know what an animal is capable of, let me just read you a part of this letter I’ve received.”

My threat held about as much influence as the original one concerning Dutch. Sir John gave me a look of mock horror and settled himself on the stone bench beside me, making much of disposing himself comfortably and turning to hear me with an expression of polite concentration. I would like to have kicked him in the shin.

“This is what my friend Bethany has written with regard to your character.”

Oh, he shuddered with feigned alarm and I only wished that Bethany had been even more to the point. I was sure she could have been.

"'My dear Catherine, It was so delightful to hear from you. I feared you had quite forgotten me and our delicious adventures during your Season. I still laugh when I think what some poor gentleman is missing by not having won you then.’" I thought Sir John gave a snort of mirth at this point, but when I glanced over at him, he was sitting stiff as a statue, listening intently. “‘Martin sends his dearest love. I half-suspect that he would have offered for you himself had I not been making eyes to distract him!’ She’s only teasing, of course,” I explained to Sir John.

"Of course."

"Now, as to

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