Bride Enchanted Read Free

he did lose a bet.”
    She nodded, feeling better and worse at having her fears confirmed. She drew on her gloves. “You can bet I will,” she said shakily.
    â€œMr. Aubrey Ashford,” their butler said, coming into the front salon.
    The man behind him walked into the room, smiled at Sheridan, looked searchingly at Eve, and then executed a graceful bow. “Good morning, Miss Faraday,” he said in his melodious voice.
    She stood still, barely managing to remember to nod a bow to him. Sheridan just stared at him.
    â€œI am Ashford. You are…?” he asked Sheridan, raising a thin black eyebrow.
    â€œThis is my brother, Sheridan,” Eve said.
    Sheridan bowed, while staring, like an automaton.
    â€œThen do call me Aubrey. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sheridan,” Aubrey said.
    That seemed to break the spell. “That’s a bang-up rig you have there,” Sheridan said eagerly. “Your team looks like prime goers too.”
    â€œThank you,” Aubrey said. “I’m pleased with them. And I thank you again because you give me an easy way to make my proposal.”
    Sister and brother went still again, eyes wide.
    Aubrey smiled. “Since it was such a fine day, Miss Faraday, I thought we might go for a ride around the park.”
    â€œOh,” she said with relief. That kind of proposal. She thought about it. It was a way to get away from her brother’s insatiable curiosity. He’d be sitting between them all morning if he could. But it was also unnerving to think of being alone with Ashford. Still, because of the things she had to say, she decided it was for the best. “Why, yes, so it is a lovely day,” she said. “I’d be delighted. But will there be room for my maid?”
    â€œIf not,” Sheridan put in hurriedly, “I can hang on to the back.”
    â€œBut we’ll be driving in an open phaeton,” Aubrey said. “And so there’s no need for a chaperone, Miss Faraday. Even the strictest arbiter of fashion can’t think anything wrong in us tooling around London in an open carriage. We won’t stop, I promise you, not even if my horse throws a shoe. And we’ll have my tiger hanging on the back, Mr. Faraday. I’m afraid your additional weight would overbalance us. What if I take you out and let you try the reins another day?”
    Sheridan looked like an excited puppy, Eve thought with disgust. If he had a tail it would be wagging.
    â€œYes, thanks!” Sheridan said. “And call me Sheridan, that is, Sherry. Everyone does.”
    â€œI will, and I’ll be glad to let you run my team through its paces. That is,” Aubrey added, with a glance from under his long dark lashes at Eve, “if your sister finds me fit company.”
    â€œThat,” Eve said crossly, forgetting her awe of the man, “is nothing more than blackmail, sir.”
    â€œYes!” Aubrey laughed. “Exactly. Shall we go?”
    They drove off into the heart of London.
    â€œYes, I agree,” Aubrey said pleasantly after a while, as he steered his team around a corner. “London is enough to render anyone awestruck, not to mention dumbstruck.”
    Eve turned her head to look at him from underthe brim of her bonnet, and under her eyelashes, as though the sun was blinding her. She was blinded, in a way. She couldn’t look at the way the sunlight teased dark moonbeams from his hair, showed the texture of his perfect skin, and mostly, showed the sparkle deep in his eyes.
    â€œI’m not awestruck by the City,” she said grudgingly. “Or dumbstruck. I’m accustomed to London. We always stay at our town house in Season. At least we have for the last several years. This isn’t my first Season, you know.”
    â€œI do. More’s the luck for me,” he said fervently. “But you see, this is my first Season here in London in a long time. I’ve been living in