Elisabeth Fairchild Read Online Free Page A

position to call on you.”
    Some sense of her disappointment must have exhibited itself. His mouth, the glorious brightness in his eyes, cinnamon lashes flaring, briefly revealed--could it be--tenderness?
    “I mean to briefly vacate the city. You may direct my coat, if you wish, to my brother, Charles. He has a townhouse in Mayfair. The most respectable of my siblings, as I am sure Mrs. Oswald will agree.” He bowed formally over her hand and brushed her knuckles with the soft heat of his lips. “Unless we should have opportunity to meet again, Miss Selwyn, I wish you well.”
    Turning, he left them, his glow receding as he passed the length of the room. There was no doubt in Dulcie’s mind that they would meet again. They must.
    Lydia Oswald sounded particularly abrasive in saying, “You would do well to avoid the Ramsays, Miss Selwyn, every one of them, but most especially that one.”
    “Why? What is wrong with them?”
    “I thought all of London knew their reputation.”
    “I have never before met a Ramsay, nor indeed heard the name.”
    ‘That is to your credit, rather than otherwise. He is far more in the habit of imperiling young women than of rescuing them, my dear. He is young. Charming. Handsome. Women tend to lose their heads around such devils.”
    “He seems highly regarded . . .”
    “Too highly by some, my dear. How old are you, Miss Selwyn?”
    “Almost sixteen.
    “Too young, thank God, to have experience of a man of Ramsay’s stamp, but old enough, I think, to be warned, most strenuously, against frequenting his company.”
    “He saved my life. I cannot, in good conscience, avoid someone who so instrumentally obliged himself to me.”
    “That he would oblige himself is the problem. Do you feel indebted to him?”
    “For my life. My future,” she said, recalling stirring hints of what lay there.
    “He would ask you for something less than that, I fear, and then he would leave you.”
    “Do you mean he would try to seduce me?” Gooseflesh rose on her arms. The wool of his coat scratched tumescent nipples as her breath came faster. And yet his light was pure. “He demonstrated nothing but goodness to me. A gentleman of courage, consideration, and manners.”
    Lydia sighed. “You cannot condemn him, my dear girl, but I can. I would warn you. Beware. Ramsay breaks hearts. I would not have yours number among them. You must judge him for yourself. But I vow I will trouble you no more on the matter.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    June 1811
    The Selwyn Townhouse, Wellclose Square, London
     
    Lydia broke her vow within an hour. The Ramsay family’s reputation soon proved her favorite topic. Dulcie could not fault her newfound friend her zealous fascination. The Ramsay’s provided ample fodder for gossipmongering.
    Dulcie’s father had heard of them--none of it good. Of Roger he said, “He is counted a fribble, my dear. A fop. A womanizing dandy. One of the Prince’s boot lickers.
    Roger Ramsay’s elder brother, Charles, to whom Dulcie and her father went to return the coat, held none too high an opinion of his brother. His cloud of pale blue light did, in fact, gray every time he mentioned Roger.
    Bearing a strong familial resemblance to his brother, with shorter hair a darker shade of flame, features even, manner steady and unshakeable. A calm and settled contentment radiated from his every move, every gesture.
    “Asked you to return it to me, did he? How odd that he should not direct it sent to his own rooms in Tudor Place.”
    “Your brother left town,” Dulcie’s father explained. “I thought it only appropriate to call upon you personally, so unusual were the circumstances.”
    Lord Ramsay’s coppery brows rose over compelling blue eyes.
    “Indeed? I cannot imagine on what occasion Roger might have had good reason to loan any female his coat, Mr. Selwyn.”
    “He did so to cover my nakedness, sir,” Dulcie blurted.
    Ramsay’s calm was shaken. “I apologize, sir, to you