I Adored a Lord Read Free Page B

few moments for Ravenna to understand.
    â€œYou know about the fortune-­teller?” she uttered with dark disapproval.
    â€œWhat fortune-­teller?” Petti stroked a pug’s rippled neck.
    â€œThe Gypsy fortune-­teller who told Arabella that one of us must marry a prince or we would never know who our real parents are. She did tell you, didn’t she?”
    â€œYou told us yourself,” Sir Beverley said. “Years ago.”
    â€œThen I must have told you in the hopes of making you split your seams with laughter. And now you have both betrayed me.”
    â€œPerhaps you are overstating it,” Sir Beverley said with a hint of a smile.
    â€œYour sister wished to put you in the way of a prince, dear girl. We merely agreed to help.”
    Ravenna could say nothing. Arabella had married a duke but remained determined to find the parents they had lost decades ago.
    Her gaze darted to the door, then to the window, to the drive and the trees and mountain beyond.
    â€œOh!” she said, snapping her attention to Sir Beverley. “I’m afraid all your matchmaking plans are for naught. You see, in order to wed a prince I need—­”
    â€œThis?” Sir Beverley produced from his pocket a thick man’s ring of gold and ruby.
    Ravenna stepped back. “She gave that to you?”
    â€œTo give to you.” Sir Beverley cupped her hand in his and pressed the ring into her palm. It was heavy and warm as it always had been, even on that day Arabella took it to a fortune-­teller and heard the prophecy—­that one of them would wed a prince and upon that day discover the mystery of their past. This ring was the key to it all.
    But Ravenna didn’t care about the mystery of their past. An infant when her mother abandoned them, she had never cared. Finding the prince had been Arabella’s dream. But now Arabella was wife to a duke. Ravenna had no doubt as to why Arabella had not bestowed the dubious honor of prince catching upon their elder sister, Eleanor. They never spoke of it, but they both knew the true reason Eleanor had not yet married, and it was not her devotion to Papa.
    â€œDo cease fretting, my dear,” Petti said comfortably. “A lady in your sister’s delicate condition must be humored.”
    â€œI am not fretting.” Ravenna dropped the ring into her pocket. It made a hard bump against her thigh. “I gather that all these girls—­ladies of enormous beauty, wealth, and status, and every one of them years younger than me—­they are all to be my competition for the prince’s favor?”
    â€œIt does seem a shame any of them bothered making the journey here.” Petti winked.
    â€œLady Iona McCall is one-­and-­twenty,” Sir Beverley said. “Only two years your junior.”
    â€œYou are both batty as belfries. And my sister too.” She turned to the window and stared down at the beautiful, wealthy ­people below. “I do not wish to marry a prince, of course.” Or anybody. “Who is that very handsome man taking Lady Iona’s arm?”
    â€œLord Case, heir to Marquess Airedale,” Sir Beverley said. “I’ve no idea why he is here. He hasn’t a sister, only a brother no one has seen in years.”
    â€œPerhaps Lord Case is looking for a bride too and has heard this is the place to come for one,” she said. “No wonder his brother plays least-­in-­sight, with a sibling of such wise forethought.”
    â€œYou are still an impertinent girl.” Sir Beverley said with a crinkle of his eyes, then returned his attention to the drive below. “Very handsome, you say?”
    â€œFancy yourself a noblesse, my dear?” Petti said.
    â€œAbout as much as I fancy myself a princess.” She went toward the door. “Now that all the potential brides are here, when does this party begin in earnest? And do you think there is yet time