Confessions of a Little Black Gown Read Free Page A

don’t believe we have ever met, Miss—”
    Oh, heavens, his voice was as smooth as the French brandy she and Felicity used to steal from their teacher’s wine cabinet. And it would be even better if he were whispering into her ear.
    Tally, my love, what is it you desire most…
    Oh, now you are being a complete widgeon , she chided herself, closing her eyes, for she couldn’t believe she was having such thoughts over a perfect stranger. A man she’d never met. She only hoped this ridiculous tumult he was causing on her insides wasn’t showing on her face.
    Taking a deep breath, she unshuttered her lashes and gaped in horror at the stranger before her. This was her future? Her destiny? No! It couldn’t be.
    Certainly not this ordinary, rather dowdy-lookingfellow blinking owlishly at her from behind a pair of dirty spectacles, his shoulders stooped over as if he carried the burden of the world upon them.
    Where had he come from? She leaned over to peer past him, searching for any sign of the man she’d expected, but there was no one else there.
    Tally swayed a bit. Heavens, she was seeing things. If she didn’t know better, she’d say she was as jug-bitten as their London housekeeper, Mrs. Hutchinson.
    But no, all the evidence was before her, for instead of some rakish character in a Weston jacket and perfectly polished boots, there stood a gentleman (well, she hoped he was at least a gentleman) in a coat that could best be described as lumpy, cut of some poorly dyed wool, with sleeves too short for his arms. Far too short, for his cuffs stuck out a good four inches. Then she glanced at his cravat, or rather where his cravat should be.
    For in its place, to her horror, sat a vicar’s collar.
    A vicar?
    Tally’s heart stopped for a second time, and not for the same reasons as earlier. She looked at his throat again, convinced she’d been mistaken. He couldn’t be a…
    Oh, gads, she’d nearly made a cake of herself over a…a…vicar.
    She gulped back her mortification. How could I have been so mistaken…?
    And how so, for he stepped forward just then to take her hand in greeting—heavens, she’d forgotten she’d been holding it out now for what seemed likean eternity—and his fingers wound around hers in a limp grasp, and he smiled patronizingly down at her as if she were some sort of simpleton.
    In truth, she rather felt like one, and it was all she could do to return his greeting with a wan smile.
    At this point, her brother-in-law rose abruptly, like a nervous cat. “Tally, how rude of me! This is my cousin…uh, um, Mr. Milo Ryder.” He paused for a second. “Mr. Ryder, this is my sister-in-law, Miss Thalia Langley.”
    “Miss Langley,” he said, “a pleasure to meet you.” Then for just a moment, his fingers wound around hers, his grasp tightened and an unsettling shock of desire raced through her.
    Tally glanced up at him and found herself looking into a pair of deep, brown eyes, a color akin to a pot of Turkish coffee like their Nanny Rana used to make for her and Felicity when they were children.
    Mr. Ryder’s eyes held that same mysterious hue—a color that was rich, subtle, and tempting.
    And as she looked again into his eyes, she found him searching her face, examining her, as if he sought the answer to some elusive question as well.
    Tally trembled. Actually shivered, for she swore she felt him peer into her very soul. His fingers went from being flaccid to warm and hard, as they suddenly held hers with a steely determination that belied the meek collar around his throat.
    Oh, dear heavens, whatever is happening? she wondered, closing her eyes and trying desperately to still her beating heart, keep herself from babbling something completely ridiculous.
    And then all her romantic imaginings were gone. His fingers dropped hers, and when she looked up again, she found to her dismay that his features were now masked over, the mystery in his eyes had vanished, and he had turned to ask