Lord Ruin Read Online Free

such an air of arrogance about her. This was disaster. Complete disaster. The duchess never stirred from Hampstead Heath except on a serious matter. And what could be more serious than meeting the woman her son planned to propose to, the woman who would make her the dowager duchess of Cynssyr?
    Lucy made a knee on the step just ahead of Anne, and Anne saw that Lucy’s bootlace had come unlaced yet again. “Lucy,” Anne whispered. But, too late.
    Lucy started down the stairs to join Emily. She stepped on the dangling lace, stumbled and in trying to recover her balance tangled her foot in Anne’s skirt. By catching Lucy’s arm, she saved her sister from pitching headfirst down the stairs, but the effort cost Anne her own balance.
    She grabbed for the bannister and grasped only air. The next thing she knew, she was falling with no hope of saving herself. With a strangled cry as she toppled sideways, Anne felt her ankle give a nasty turn. She landed hard on her side and bounced down two steps to the landing. She lay there, stunned and exquisitely aware of the hush.

 
    Chapter Three
      
    “Are you all right?” Kneeling, Devon handed over her glasses, which had gone flying when she fell. She put them on, relieved to have the world back in focus until she saw herself the center of attention.
    “I’m fine. I think.” She didn’t feel a thing. Her foot was numb from toe to ankle which surely was not natural. “Perfectly all right.”
    “Clumsy girl.”
    “Yes, Papa.” Sensation returned with a rush, and she bit her lip to keep back a gasp of pain.
    Sinclair frowned at her. “Walk it off, my girl.”
    “Yes, Papa.”
    “You’ve hurt yourself.” Devon put an arm around her, holding her up.
    “Good Lord, man, don’t make a blessed fuss,” said Sinclair.
    Devon lowered her onto a stair and matter-of-factly unlaced her boot. “Would you be so kind, Pond,” he told his butler, “as to send for the doctor?”
    “Milord.”
    “I don’t believe it’s broken, but best have it looked at.”
    “Nonsense!” Sinclair guffawed.
    Anne sucked in a breath as he slid off her boot. From over Devon’s shoulder, she got a full dose of her father’s glower. “Papa is right, my lord. You mustn’t make a fuss.” But her ankle didn’t just throb, it pulsed with agony. Pride was all that kept away the tears. She managed to stand, but without touching her foot to the floor. “I’m all right.”
    “You’re not.” Devon was suddenly close. “Put your arms round my neck.” But with her father glaring at her, she didn’t dare. “Come now, Anne,” Devon said in reasonable tones. “I’ll not bite. I promise you that.”
    “Always been the clumsy one,” she heard her father say. For the briefest moment, she resented his glib dismissal. Had Emily or Lucy fallen he would have been the first to demand a litter and a surgeon. She quickly stopped the heretical train of thought. She knew her duty and the respect she owed her father.
    Devon lifted her as if she weighed no more than a feather. She imagined her father glaring at her and then she heard him say to someone, “No good comes of coddling.”
    “It’s all right, Anne, darling,” Devon murmured in her ear, low enough that in the general commotion no one heard but her.
    Her heart leapt. Not entirely welcome, but not unwelcome either.
Darling
. He’d called her darling. She put her arms around his shoulders, for balance, of course, and something deep inside her stirred. Something she’d not felt in four years.
    What if he didn’t mean it? What if he’d been thinking of Lucy or Emily or even some other woman entirely and the word had just slipped out?
Darling
. In that case, he was embarrassed to his toes, if he even realized what he’d said. Like as not, he didn’t know he’d uttered the endearment. But heavens, what if he meant it?
    All the way up the stairs, she vacillated between the two possibilities. He meant it. He didn’t mean it. My, but he