in one piece, you must know. I should have been utterly cast down had you been harmed.”
Steely blue eyes glinted at her. He wished he could tell her to go to the devil, to plague him with her incessant fooleries, but he was too much a gentleman—by God, he would be a gentleman. So he said only, “You could have got someone killed.”
“Yes, you,” she agreed calmly. “But here you are, as handsome and alive as ever.” She gave him a sweet smile, reminding him of what he found so vexatious in her. She had an innocent smile, delectable lips, but behind it all a black heart.
“Oh, come, Julian, you give me too much credit. No one was anything near being killed. You know it was naught but a lark, only a lark!”
“Only a lark?” His voice dripped ice. “Your coach came directly at me, and if I had been any less a rider, I would likely have broken my neck. My horse might have died as well.”
She was thoughtful a moment. “We were not supposed to drive quite so close to you, I own. And why do you insist upon riding such an immense animal? We should have fared the worst, not you; only it did not work out the way I planned.” She spoke with barely a moment’s stopping. “And I warrant you would have come to rescue me in a moment if Margaret had not spoilt everything.” She pouted at him from within the reaches of a richly beribboned bonnet. “I was perfectly prepared to swoon for your benefit. You would have come to my aid, would you not?” She looked at him hopefully, but he made no answer. He directed his next words to the opposite wall of the coach.
“Are you all right, Miss Margaret?” He couldn’t see Miss Andrews's younger sister, but a sniffle came from the darkness.
“I—I think so. Thank you, sir.”
“Margaret’s perfectly well!” Miss Andrews cried, moving forward so her ample bosom, half revealed in the formal dress of evening wear, was not only plainly in sight, but she blocked any possible view behind her. St. John looked away, refusing to admire her.
Other men did admire her, for she could have made any wall in the kingdom proud with her portrait on it. She had dark, lustrous hair, an ovaline face with a well-delineated nose, and dark, long-lashed eyes. She also had slim ankles and
small feet, which he knew from attending many a ball or rout in town. But St. John could not admire Miss Andrews'ss face or slim ankles, for her brazen impudence gave him a disgust of her.
In the past he would have taken advantage of her, welcomed her when she teased him with her alluring countenance and everything beneath it. At times he wanted nothing more than to take hold of her and…He forced his mind to concentrate only on her irksome behaviour. Tonight’s escapade, what she called a ‘mere lark,’ was the latest in a string of vexatious attempts by her to gain his attention. And it was merely a hoax, another of her tricks, to put him in her path.
As he considered how best to give her a set-down, the jarring sound of a ring tone, quite close, made St. John turn in amazement and look around, not understanding the sound or its source. It was unrecognizable. But Claire Channing, the author writing St. John’s story, did. She shut her eyes with a low groan, while St. John and the coach, the dark road, all of it, vanished, and she was back, sitting before her laptop, waiting for the call to go to voice mail.
“Good fiction creates its own reality.”
Nora Roberts
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linore Rose Burkard is a serious watcher of period films, a Janeite, and hopeless romantic. An award-winning author best known for Inspirational Regency Romance, her first novel (Before the Season Ends) opened the genre for the CBA. Besides historical romance, Linore writes contemporary suspense (The Pulse Effex Series, as L.R. Burkard), contemporary romance and short stories. Linore has a magna cum laude English Lit. degree from CUNY which she earned while taking herself far too seriously. She now resides in Ohio with her husband and family, where she turns her youthful angst into character or humor-driven plots.
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A Short Glossary of Regency Terms
A
abigail: a lady’s maid; any female maid (servant).
Ex. “I see you’ve hired a new abigail.”
Ace of Spades: a widow
ape