Miss Wonderful Read Online Free

Alistair must prove
himself worthy of the trust his friend had placed in him.
    He
must prove as well to Lord Hargate that his third son was not an
idle, useless fop of a parasite.
    Praying
his face told no tales, Alistair casually drew back, bowed, and
murmured the usual polite response.
    "You
wanted my father, I know," the girl said. "He appointed to
meet with you today."
    "I
collect he has been detained elsewhere."
    "Exactly,"
she said. "I have considered engraving that as his epitaph:
'Sylvester Oldridge, Beloved Father, Detained Elsewhere.' Of course,
that would truly be the case, would it not, were he in need of an
epitaph."
    The
faint color rising in her cheeks belied the coolness of her voice. It
was instinctive to incline toward that hint of a blush, to see if it
would grow rosier still.
    Rather
hastily she moved away and began untying the ribbons of her bonnet.
    Alistair
came to his senses, straightened, and said composedly, "Since
you imply he is not yet in need of it, one may safely assume he is
detained only in the usual sense, not the permanent one."
    "All
too usual," she said. "If you were a moss or a lichen or
possessed stamens and pistils or any other uniquely vegetative
quality, he would remember the smallest detail about you. But if you
were the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the eternal disposition of my
father's soul depended upon his meeting you at such and such a time,
it would be exactly the same as this."
    Alistair
was too much occupied with stifling inconvenient feelings to absorb
her words. Luckily, her attire finally caught his attention, and this
promptly purged his brain of poetic drivel.
    The
riding dress was of costly fabric and well made, but in a dowdy style
and a shade of green unflattering to her coloring. The bonnet
likewise was of superior quality, but frumpy. Alistair was baffled.
How could a woman who obviously understood quality have no
acquaintance whatsoever with taste or fashion?
    The
contradiction annoyed him, and this, combined with stifled feelings,
perhaps explained why he grew so unreasonably irritated when, instead
of untying the bonnet ribbons, she proceeded to tangle them.
    "And
so I ask you to overlook my father's absence as a quirk or ailment of
character," she was saying as she tried to undo the tangle, "and
not take offense. Drat." She tugged the ribbons, which only
tightened the Gordian knot she'd created.
    "May
I assist you, Miss Oldridge?" Alistair said.
    She
retreated a pace. "Thank you, but I do not see why we should
both be aggravated by a stubborn bit of ribbon."
    He
advanced upon her. "I must insist," he said. "You are
only making it worse."
    She
clutched the knotted ribbon with one hand.
    "You
can't see what you're doing," he said. He nudged her hand.
    She
brought her hands to her sides and went stiff as a board. Her blue
gaze fastened on the knot of his neckcloth.
    "I
must ask you to tilt your head back," Alistair said.
    She
did so, and her eyes focused above and somewhere to his right. Her
eyelashes were darker than her hair, and long. A wash of pink came
and went in her cheeks.
    Alistair
forced his own gaze lower—past her overwide mouth—to the
knot, which was very hard and very small. He had to bend close to
look for a likely opening in it.
    Instantly
he became aware of a scent that wasn't wet wool, but Woman. His heart
gave a series of hard thumps.
    Resolutely
ignoring these disturbances, he managed to get one well-manicured
nail into a sliver of an opening. But the ribbon was damp, and the
knot gave way not one iota, and he could feel her breath on his face.
His pulse picked up speed.
    He
straightened. "The situation appears hopeless," he said. "I
recommend surgery."
    Later
he would realize he should have recommended she send for her maid,
but at the time he was distracted by her lower lip, the corner of
which was caught between her teeth.
    "Very
well, then," she said, still looking at the spot above his head.
"Rip it or cut it—whatever is quickest. The