Miss Wonderful

Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase Page A

Book: Miss Wonderful by Loretta Chase Read Free Book Online
Authors: Loretta Chase
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance
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was the work of an instant, no more. But she must have heard his
footsteps pause. Or perhaps she heard him catch his breath—and
snatch his wits back from where they were wandering and remind
himself he'd better continue on his way: He could not afford to be
distracted by a female, no matter how perfect her derriere.
    Whatever
the cause, she lifted a head capped with a disheveled mass of coppery
hair and turned a deep blue gaze over her shoulder at him… and
smiled.
    It
was she.
    "Miss
Oldridge," he said, his voice dropping so low that the two words
sounded like "grrrr."
    "Mr.
Carsington." She straightened and turned fully toward him. "I
had not thought you would be up and about at this early hour."
    Was
she being sarcastic? "It is nearly two o'clock," he said.
    Her
eyes widened. "Good heavens. Have I been here all this time?"
    "I
haven't the least idea now long you've been here," he said.
    She
threw a frowning glance at the map. "Well, I never meant to stay
so long. That is, I meant to come back later, when you were awake."
    "I
am awake."
    "Yes,
and"—she eyed him up and down—"and looking very
neat and elegant."
    Alistair
wished he could say the same for her. Someone had made a valiant
attempt to tame her hair with a braid coiled and pinned on the crown
of her head. But of course half the pins were on the floor and the
table, and the coil was listing to starboard. His hands itched to get
at it and put it right. He clenched them and forced himself to look
elsewhere.
    Grimly
he regarded the expensive dress. This green was even more unbecoming
than the shade he'd first seen her wearing. The style—oh, it
had no style at all. It was plain and dull and about as flattering as
a flour sack.
    He
turned his gaze to the maps.
    "I
needed a new one," she said. "We had a very fine map of the
area, but my father drowned it in the Derwent River in November."
    "I
see." He did, all too plainly. "What I don't understand is
why you or your father would need one. I was told that yours is one
of the older families hereabouts. I should think you'd know the land
quite well."
    "My
own property, yes, but Longledge Hill gets its name from its length,
which is considerable," she said. "It actually comprises
several hills—far more territory than I or even my father could
know intimately." She turned back to the table and pointed to
the map. "We have Captain Hughes on one side of us, and Sir
Roger Tolbert on the other. Even though we visit frequently, I
certainly do not know every stick and stone of their land. I was
particularly curious about Lord Gordmor's property, which is actually
a good deal less, you see, than fifteen miles away."
    "It
comes to nearly twice that for carts and packhorses traveling deeply
rutted and circuitous roads," Alistair said. "If we could
cut a canal in a straight line, it would extend not even ten miles.
However, since rocky hills lie along that line, and our route must go
round landowners' outbuildings, timber yards, and such—we
estimate fifteen miles of canal."
    He
moved to stand beside her at the table. "Is this why you needed
a map? You wished to study our route more carefully? Is it possible
you are having second thoughts about your opposition to our plans?"
    "No,
I'm having second thoughts about Lord Gord-mor," she said
without looking up.
    The
fitful sunbeams from the dining room's single window made a fiery
froth of the wispy ringlets about her face. The braided coil sagged
further toward her ear, which, being small and perfectly
shell-shaped, made the imperfect hair arrangement—not to
mention every stitch on her persons—all the more aggravating.
    "You
had perhaps pictured him as one of those rapacious villains of
industry who evict humble shepherds and cowherds from their huts and
erect immense, smoking factories on what used to be grazing land?"
Alistair said.
    "No,
I had pictured him as being resourceful," she said. "When a
solution I devise proves unworkable, I look for another way to solve
the

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