The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

your help,” she insisted, swatting at his hands.
    “What is the matter with you?” he asked, partly frustrated and partly baffled.
    “Nothing.  I just don’t want strange gentlemen touching me.”
    “Strange gentlemen touching you?”
    Ignoring the indignant tone in his voice, she rolled on the grass and pulled away from him.  As she tried to stand up, the bottom of her dress got tangled around her legs.  He placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to pull her up.  Startled, she tried to push him away and fell back down.
    “Stop this i ndecent behavior at once!” her father shouted.
    They stopped and turned their attention to the veranda where a group of people rushed outside to see what caused the commotion.  It took Claire a moment to realize how bad the situation looked.  Her dress was up to her knees and the gentleman’s hands were on her arms.  Neither one of them moved for a whole five seconds, and then something snapped and she managed to shove him away.  At what was less than a graceful movement, she managed to get to her feet and brushed the lower half of her dress down so she was decent.
    “This isn’t what it looks like,” the gentleman told the crowd.  “I was trying to escort her back inside when she tripped and fell onto the grass.”
    Her sister walked up to their father, a knowing smile on her face.  “A likely story.”
    “It’s true,” Claire spoke up despite the heat rising up in her cheeks.  Truly, she couldn’t recall a time when she’d been more humiliated in her life.  “I was dizzy.”
    “D izzy from lust, no doubt,” Lord Edon mumbled, triggering a few giggles from the crowd.
    A n older lady gave him a sharp look.  “I won’t tolerate that kind of talk here, Lord Edon.”
    “My apologi es, Lady Cadwalader,” Lord Edon replied, sounding appropriately contrite.
    Claire’s father turned his attention back to Claire and the gentleman standing next to her.  “I trust your little tryst will lead to a wedding?”
    Claire’s eyes grew wide.  A wedding?  She glanced at the gentleman.  It gave her slight comfort to know he was as stunned as she was.  Clearing her throat, she ventured, “It was an accident.  We weren’t…” She struggled to find the right words, but they evaded her.
    Lady Cadwalader shoo k her head.  “Don’t let Lord Roderick get away with it, Miss.”
    Get away with it?  But there was nothing to get away with!
    Lord Roderick sighed, his shoulders slouched.
    Lady Cadwalader motioned to everyone to go back inside.  “I didn’t plan this evening’s ball t o spend all of my time outside.  Lord Roderick, I assume you’ll bring her in for a dance?”
    Her father nodded to Lady Cadwalader.  “I’ll make sure he does right by my daughter.”
    Lord Roderick stiffened for a moment but then offered Claire his arm.
    She couldn’t believe this was happening.  She watched in dread as the onlookers shuffled back inside, either shaking their heads in disapproval or snickering.  She mentally cursed herself for taking that last dance with Lord Edon instead of asking her mother to go outside with her so the world would stop closing in around her.
    Reluctant, she accepted Lord Roderick’s extended arm and walked with him to the veranda.  Her father intercepted them and broadly smiled.  “Lord Roderick, I’d be negligent if I didn’t introduce myself.”
    “There’s no need, Mister Lowell.  I know who you are,” Lord Roderick muttered as her mother and sister joined them.
    “Did my daughter tell you who I was?” her father asked him.
    Claire felt the tension in Lord Roderick’s arm.  “Not exactly,” Lord Roderick replied, neither smiling nor frowning.  “Someone mentioned you by name.”
    “ Oh.  Good.  At a convenient time, I’d like to discuss your marriage to my daughter.”
    “Indeed.” He shot her a sharp look.  “I suppose you’ll want an elaborate wedding.”
    Her jaw dropped.  An elaborate wedding?  Up