Page 10 of A Rake's Redemption
“What would an actress be doing riding one of Lord Ashley’s prized horses?”
Lady Compton eyed Miranda speculatively. “Perhaps because she plans to ride Lord Ashley later?”
“You do have quite the imagination, Jeannette,” Miranda said as she turned her horse toward the Ring, but she narrowed her eyes again as she rode. This wouldn’t do. She and Alex were destined to be together. It had taken only one night to convince her of that. Usually, she required multiple partners to satiate her lust, at least temporarily. Alex had done so in one attempt. He had recognized what she wanted—needed—and had given her the rare gift of complete, exquisite, and total satisfaction.
Alex washers. No other female was going to get in the way.
Chapter Four
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I do not think so.” Alex frowned at Brice Barclay and handed him a snifter of brandy before taking the seat opposite him in the library the next afternoon. “I think my idea is brilliantly clever.”
Brice raised a brow. “How many cognacs did you have before you came to that conclusion?”
“None. You know I like putting George’s nose out of joint whenever I can.”
“You have ever since I’ve known you, not that I blame you for it. Your brother is the most ostentatious prick I know.” Brice swirled his brandy and took a swallow, waiting a moment to savor it before he spoke again. “But trying to train a servant to act like a lady—”
“Inis is not a servant. She is a hostler.”
“Being a horse handler does not exactly help matters, does it? I saw the girl when I arrived. She came to take my horse around back. I have to admit a female in breeches is a novelty, at least for any male within sight, but a woman who mucks out stalls is never going to be accepted by theton.”
“But that is the precise beauty of it.”
Brice looked at the half-empty brandy decanter and then at Alex. “Are you sure you have not been nipping into that?”
Alex shook his head. “If you could have seen the looks of incredulity on the ladies’ faces when we were in the park. By now, I suspect half thetonis atwitter about who the mystery woman really is.”
“They will close on her like a pack of wolves.”
“I have no intention of letting that happen. She is under my protection since she is under my roof,” Alex said. “I will escort Inis whenever we leave the property, and I will not put her at the mercy of thetonuntil I have fully educated her in proper etiquette.”
Both of Brice’s brows lifted. “Youare going to teach herproperetiquette?”
Alex raised his own. “You do not think I can do it?”
Brice grinned. “Your…er,associationswith women have not been exactly proper.”
“Not that kind of thing,” Alex answered, although the idea intrigued him. Maybe… He forced his thoughts from the images of a naked Inis lying in a mussed bed. “Hell, you and I have both been drilled on making small talk, using the proper forks, and making sure we do not step on a dancing partner’s foot,ad nauseam. How hard can it be to teach someone else?”
“Are you not forgetting that mamas send their daughters to boarding schools for years to learn all that? Besides, what is the point? Are you planning to pass Inis off as a missing heiress?”
“I intend to say as little as possible. Building curiosity among theton—”
“Makes them more rabid, you mean.”
“Perhaps,” Alex replied, “but that is why I want to make sure Inis can hold her own when I finally do escort her to George’s ball. My brother and his cronies will not be able to find a thing to criticize about her. He will be furious to find out he and his cronies have been duped.”
“I think you are forgetting something.”
Alex frowned. “Do not tell me you agree with my pretentious sibling about titles making one group of people better than another? I thought I knew you better—”
“It is not that. For Christ’s sake, I am a baron. Do I flaunt that?”
Alex relaxed and grinned. “Only when it helps persuade a female into bed.”
“Persuasion is usually not necessary,” Brice replied with mock indignation, “unless you are speaking for yourself.”
