The Cavendish Brothers by Catherine Gayle

Author:Catherine Gayle [Gayle, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance
Publisher: Night Shift Publishing
Published: 2016-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

With her heart thudding against the walls of her chest and a furious blush heating her cheeks, Calista Bartlett turned as calmly as she could and made her way back across the room so she could once again stand next to her new sister-in-law. On her way, she selected a glass of orgeat from a footman’s tray in order to excuse her brief disappearance, wishing it was apple brandy or sherry, or something equally as strong, but orgeat would have to suffice.

Lord only knew where the audacity to speak so brazenly to Lord Fordingham had come from.

What had she just done? It went thoroughly against her nature to beg an introduction to a gentleman she didn’t know.

But she’d been watching Lord Fordingham since her arrival an hour ago. Unlike so many of the other gentlemen present, he did not behave in a garish, outlandish manner. He was reserved. He stood to the side and kept his voice down to a respectable level. He did not accost young ladies, and then openly and outrageously flirt with them before moving on to the next, and then do the same all over again.

No, he simply stood there against the wall, straight and austere, calmly scanning the room with his hands clasped behind his back. While he may dress in the current fashions as dictated by society, there was nothing else particularly fashionable about him—which was precisely the reason Calista knew he would be the perfect gentleman for whom she should set her cap.

He was nothing—nothing—like Lord Ellis. Lord Fordingham would not leave her heartbroken by running off to Gretna Green with her dearest friend, simply because Calista was in mourning and unable to participate in social activities alongside him.

Not that she was still in mourning at the moment, but that was beside the point.

The point was that Ellis ought to have stood beside her during her grief, but instead he ran off and found someone with whom to replace her. The only way he could have hurt her more thoroughly than he had done would have been to run off with Miranda or Penelope, one of her sisters, instead of her most especial friend. But if he would be willing to do that while the Bartlett family was in mourning, why wouldn’t he take Calista instead of a sister?

Alas, he had not run off with Calista, nor with either of her sisters. He’d run off with Valetta Norton—despite his previous insistence that Calista break all ties with the girl. He’d done the very last thing she ever would have expected of him.

Lord Fordingham, on the other hand, was precisely what one thought him to be upon watching him.

Stoic. Staid. Steady.

Exactly what Calista wanted.

Louisa, her new sister-in-law, smiled gently at her as she drew near, her blonde curls bouncing in the candlelight. “Where have you been off to?”

Calista quickly took a sip of her orgeat and grimaced as she swallowed, though she did savor the burn threading its way through her body. Should she

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.