Give All to Love Read Online Free Page B

Lady Godiva—I deny it unequivocally!”
    She squealed, and plunged at him, her strong fingers seeking the place in his ribs that was his weakest spot.
    â€œNo!” He dodged desperately and snatched at her flying hands. “Josie—do not! I warn … you … Ah!” And he writhed, laughing helplessly as she tickled him without mercy.
    Stopping abruptly, she drew from his inner pocket the prize she’d found. “Oh! Dev—what is it?” She fumbled at the clasp of the leather case. “Is it for me? May I—”
    â€œNo!” He grabbed for the case, but already it was opened and his ward’s eyes very wide as she gazed at the magnificent ruby. Furious with himself, he snatched the case away. “By the Lord Harry, a man has no privacy!”
    She stood and stepped back. “I’m sorry, Dev,” she said quietly. “I had no right to pry.”
    â€œHuh!” he grunted, standing and tucking the case back into his pocket. “I’m glad you realize it. Well, my Elf, it’s nigh ten o’clock. Best get to bed. We must make an early start in the morning if we’re to reach Gloucester by Thursday.”
    She did not at once reply and he glanced at her curiously. She stood very straight and still, her face averted, and he wondered if she was terribly disappointed about the pendant. Before he could speak, however, she turned a smile on him that dazzled with its brilliance. “Oh, I am so sorry! Had I forgot to tell you? I met Aunt Louisa and Rosemary out shopping today, and Rosemary begged me to go down to Sussex for a week or so.”
    â€œThe deuce! I’ve simply got to meet with Little’s solicitor, and I fancy you’d like to go, but I don’t see how I can—”
    â€œNot you, Dev. Your wayward daughter.”
    â€œOh.”
    Not looking at him, she said, “You don’t mind, do you? I expect you’ve other things to take care of—besides Sir William, I mean.”
    He turned and picked up the fallen newspaper, restoring it to the table with a display of neatness that would have astounded his long-suffering valet. “Well, that’s true enough,” he said with a crooked grin. “And, you’re likely eager to see young John Drummond again, eh?”
    â€œVery eager,” Josie confirmed, her eyes brighter than ever. “He’s been abroad for two years, after all. How did you know he was come home?”
    â€œYolande told me. Do you—er, mean to leave early in the morning?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œI’ll arrange for a hackney to take you over.”
    â€œKlaus will do that. Unless you prefer he does not accompany me.”
    â€œOh, no. I think it a jolly good notion for you to take him. He can keep all the Sussex beaux from pestering you to death.”
    She laughed. “I shall have to choose one soon, you know.”
    â€œHum. Well, when must I send the carriage to bring you home?”
    She shrugged and replied airily, “I—haven’t decided.”
    â€œI see.” His lips tightened and in an unwontedly curt voice he said, “Give them all my love, and have a nice time.”
    â€œI shall. Goodnight, Papa.”
    â€œSleep well.” He watched her walk away. ‘She is behaving like a spoiled brat,’ he thought, seething with indignation. ‘And only because I would not let her have the pendant!’
    But he was not one to hold anger and, before she reached the door, he had hastened to swing it open for her. She smiled up at him and swept past with a rustle of draperies and a drift of her fragrance.
    â€œJosie,” he said, “you forgot to kiss me goodnight.”
    She paused. “So I did,” she said, then walked quickly into her bedchamber.
    Devenish found it difficult to sleep that night. Sometimes, her behaviour so blatantly denied the sixteen he claimed. ‘I shall have to choose one soon…’