The Battling Bluestocking by Amanda Scott

Author:Amanda Scott [Scott, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781480415683
Published: 2013-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

10

BATES SHUT THE FRONT door.

“Will you or Sir Brian require anything further, Miss Jessica?” he inquired in a carefully even tone.

“We require nothing, Bates, except a little privacy,” Sir Brian snapped before Jessica could collect her thoughts enough to speak. “We shall be in the small saloon, where we do not wish to be disturbed.”

“Yes, sir.” Bates moved without so much as a questioning glance at Jessica to open the door into the saloon Sir Brian had indicated, a charming little room decorated in pale blue and gold, and overlooking the square through tall, narrow Crown-glass windows.

Sir Brian waited pointedly for Jessica to precede him, and after one quick glance upward to find an expression in his eyes that promptly reminded her of the day Andrew had said his uncle had a talent for turning people’s knees to pudding, she swallowed carefully but managed to walk past him with her head high. Inside the room she turned, waiting only until Bates had closed the door again behind Sir Brian.

“You seem a trifle put out, sir,” she said, pardonably proud that her voice sounded calm, even though, for the first time in his presence, she could actually feel her heart pounding against her rib cage.

“Put out?” His voice rose a little, and despite the control he was so clearly exerting over himself, there was undue emphasis on the second word. “My dear girl, I have been pacing the floors here, trying to decide whether I ought to go after you or not, ever since the moment your aunt informed me of the ridiculous mission you and my harebrained nephew had set out upon.”

He took a step nearer, and Jessica felt a tiny thrill of fear shoot up her backbone, for his eyes fairly glittered with anger, and the fact that his efforts to control his fury were so visible only made him seem the more dangerous. She had no idea how far his anger would take him; nevertheless, she stood her ground, and despite the curious effect his anger had upon her, she found it difficult to control her own temper.

“You need not have disturbed yourself, sir,” she said. “We managed the sweep quite successfully.”

“By God, Jessica, I believe you are as headstrong and foolhardy as that impetuous aunt of yours,” he declared grimly. “It would be an excellent thing if someone were to shake you until your teeth rattled, and I confess, I’m of a mind to do at least that much myself, for you ought to have sense enough to realize that it was not your errand in and of itself that worried me, but rather the danger to your safety. Whatever possessed you to do something so outrageous?”

“There was nothing in the least outrageous about it,” she countered, wishing her palms were a trifle drier and that her heart were not fluttering so absurdly in her breast. “Purchasing the boy’s articles of indenture, or whatever an apprentice’s papers are called, was clearly the simplest way out of the matter once Aunt Susan had taken it upon herself to rescue him.

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