thinking?
The tutor batted her brown eyes at him in vapid adoration.
Lifting his hat, he bowed, and resolved to return to Nevett’s town house as soon as the lesson had ended and ask.
She skittered forward, then stopped a few feet away as if uncertain.
Fiend seize her, she was playing coy. Hat still held high, he bowed again, and indicated the place before him.
With a triumphant glance around at the aristocracy strolling past, she minced toward him and curtsied.
Settling his hat back on his head, he said in a low voice, “I don’t suppose I could convince you to tell His Grace I’ve reformed.”
She narrowed her eyes as if in confusion—or as if she needed glasses. “My lord?”
“Silly of me to ask.” How was he to flirt with this…this creature? The gossip would no longer be about his clothes, but his taste in women. His friends would think he’d run mad, and if he tried to explain that his father had blackmailed him, they would laugh themselves into bedlam just as Throckmorton and Celeste had done. “His Grace will have made this whole travail worth your while somehow. So we shall do this thing, heh?”
She visibly swallowed. “What thing, Lord Huntington?”
“The politeness, the flirting, the courtship.” Looking on the bright side, Jude knew his interest in this female would, without a doubt, cement his reputation as a cretin with Comte de Guignard and Monsieur Bouchard. “Must make it look good, and the sooner we succeed, the sooner we are done. Very well.” He indicated the path. “Shall we walk?”
In a voice with all the appeal of chalk on a slate-board, she said, “Why…yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord. I would be delighted—”
“My lord,” he finished for her.
She blinked at him. “My lord?”
“Nothing. I realize the circumstances are unusual, and we have not been formally introduced, but you know me, and I would be delighted to make your acquaintance.” She didn’t seem to know what he meant, so he prompted, “Won’t you tell me your name?”
“Yes! Of course! I’m…” She paused and gasped, her pale lips opening like a fish out of water. If he didn’t know better, he would say she had forgotten her name. At last she managed, “I’m Lady Pheodora Osgood of the Rochdale Osgoods.”
“Indeed?” She surprised him. There really were Osgoods in Rochdale, a respectable family although singularly plain. “Now that you mention it, I see the resemblance. I hadn’t realized—” He paused, on the verge of being indelicate.
“You hadn’t realized what, my lord?”
He hadn’t realized they suffered from the loss of fortune that required them to send one of their young ladies away to earn her living—but he had been out of the country. “I hadn’t realized the Osgoods had brought a young lady of such exceptional beauty here to town.”
She squinted up at him. “My lord, are you completely well?”
“I’m fine, I thank you.” He bent his most charming smile on her.
“Are you sure? Because no one has ever called me…that is, I have never before heard…” She squinted at him yet more.
Irritated beyond belief by her stammering and her uncertainty, he snapped, “Do you wear spectacles?”
Deliberately, as if she’d been instructed to do so many times, she widened her eyes. “Spectacles? What do you mean, spectacles?”
“Eye apparel which would make you see more precisely. Here.” Taking her reticule off her arm, he rummaged inside. “There they are.” Taking the plain gold frames, he perched them on her nose.
She stared at him, and this time her eyes were sincerely wide—and a rather pretty brown.
“That’s better. Now we can get along swimmingly. And after all, it’s not as if you have to truly impress me with your beauty.” Remembering his father’s injunction to flirt, Jude added in a low, seductive tone, “I’m already overwhelmed.”
She stopped in the middle of the walk, and said to herself, “I did hear that while abroad you
The tutor batted her brown eyes at him in vapid adoration.
Lifting his hat, he bowed, and resolved to return to Nevett’s town house as soon as the lesson had ended and ask.
She skittered forward, then stopped a few feet away as if uncertain.
Fiend seize her, she was playing coy. Hat still held high, he bowed again, and indicated the place before him.
With a triumphant glance around at the aristocracy strolling past, she minced toward him and curtsied.
Settling his hat back on his head, he said in a low voice, “I don’t suppose I could convince you to tell His Grace I’ve reformed.”
She narrowed her eyes as if in confusion—or as if she needed glasses. “My lord?”
“Silly of me to ask.” How was he to flirt with this…this creature? The gossip would no longer be about his clothes, but his taste in women. His friends would think he’d run mad, and if he tried to explain that his father had blackmailed him, they would laugh themselves into bedlam just as Throckmorton and Celeste had done. “His Grace will have made this whole travail worth your while somehow. So we shall do this thing, heh?”
She visibly swallowed. “What thing, Lord Huntington?”
“The politeness, the flirting, the courtship.” Looking on the bright side, Jude knew his interest in this female would, without a doubt, cement his reputation as a cretin with Comte de Guignard and Monsieur Bouchard. “Must make it look good, and the sooner we succeed, the sooner we are done. Very well.” He indicated the path. “Shall we walk?”
In a voice with all the appeal of chalk on a slate-board, she said, “Why…yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord. I would be delighted—”
“My lord,” he finished for her.
She blinked at him. “My lord?”
“Nothing. I realize the circumstances are unusual, and we have not been formally introduced, but you know me, and I would be delighted to make your acquaintance.” She didn’t seem to know what he meant, so he prompted, “Won’t you tell me your name?”
“Yes! Of course! I’m…” She paused and gasped, her pale lips opening like a fish out of water. If he didn’t know better, he would say she had forgotten her name. At last she managed, “I’m Lady Pheodora Osgood of the Rochdale Osgoods.”
“Indeed?” She surprised him. There really were Osgoods in Rochdale, a respectable family although singularly plain. “Now that you mention it, I see the resemblance. I hadn’t realized—” He paused, on the verge of being indelicate.
“You hadn’t realized what, my lord?”
He hadn’t realized they suffered from the loss of fortune that required them to send one of their young ladies away to earn her living—but he had been out of the country. “I hadn’t realized the Osgoods had brought a young lady of such exceptional beauty here to town.”
She squinted up at him. “My lord, are you completely well?”
“I’m fine, I thank you.” He bent his most charming smile on her.
“Are you sure? Because no one has ever called me…that is, I have never before heard…” She squinted at him yet more.
Irritated beyond belief by her stammering and her uncertainty, he snapped, “Do you wear spectacles?”
Deliberately, as if she’d been instructed to do so many times, she widened her eyes. “Spectacles? What do you mean, spectacles?”
“Eye apparel which would make you see more precisely. Here.” Taking her reticule off her arm, he rummaged inside. “There they are.” Taking the plain gold frames, he perched them on her nose.
She stared at him, and this time her eyes were sincerely wide—and a rather pretty brown.
“That’s better. Now we can get along swimmingly. And after all, it’s not as if you have to truly impress me with your beauty.” Remembering his father’s injunction to flirt, Jude added in a low, seductive tone, “I’m already overwhelmed.”
She stopped in the middle of the walk, and said to herself, “I did hear that while abroad you
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