Lady Elinor's Wicked Adventures Read Free

back.”
    â€œGood to see you again.” Tunbury couldn’t help smiling back. Jacobs held himself as straight as ever, though most of his hair seemed to have disappeared. Had that been recent, or was he remembering Jacobs as he had first seen him?
    There was no time to ask, or even to wonder. No sooner had his overcoat, gloves, and hat vanished than he was ushered into the sitting room and plied with tea while Lord Penworth and Pip were sent for. Rycote, not Pip. He should remember to call him Rycote now. After all, they were no longer children. The warmth of the fire was nothing compared to the warmth of the welcome. Not a word of reproach about his four-year absence.
    Over dinner, the questions about his travels were curious and interested, not reproachful. And all different. Lord Penworth asked about political conditions. Lady Penworth asked about social conditions. Rycote asked about farming conditions.
    And Norrie asked about his adventures. She wanted to know about everything. What did places look like? How did people talk? What did they wear or eat? What did they do? What was it like in Brazil?
    He laughed at that one. “It was hot. Horribly hot.”
    She laughed right back. “Oh, how could it possibly be horrible to be hot. London has been miserably cold and wet for months.”
    â€œHot and steamy is far worse. You have no escape. The air is so thick and heavy all the time that the moment you move, the sweat pours down until you feel as if you’re drowning. All the planters and their families, all the wealthy families in the cities, insist on dressing as if they were in Europe—tight collars and frock coats for the gentlemen, huge skirts for the ladies. Naturally, they can’t do anything except sit around and fan themselves while they complain about the heat and order the slaves about. Slaves do everything.”
    Pip frowned. “I thought they finally abolished the slave trade.”
    That prompted a sour laugh from Harry. “That’s no help for the poor devils who are already there.” He caught the look of concern that shadowed Norrie’s face. “But the jungles are incredible. Plants, creatures, birds, even butterflies in fantastic colors, the likes of which you’ve never seen. And the river—it’s like nothing in Europe. Sometimes it’s hemmed in by jungle, sometimes it spreads out into swamps so broad you don’t know where it ends.”
    Norrie was looking at him skeptically, as if she knew he had changed the subject deliberately. She might not want to be protected from ugliness, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying. There were horrors she should never have to face, not if he could help it. So he grinned at her. “And the most enormous snakes, snakes that could swallow you whole.”
    She gasped for a second, then grinned back. “Beast! I don’t believe it.”
    â€œI swear. I saw one swallow a pig that was a good deal fatter than you.” He put a hand over his heart, but she just shook her head at him.
    When Lady Penworth rose to leave the gentlemen to their port and cigars, he thought Norrie would object. However, one look from her mother was enough to settle the matter. Everyone obeyed Lady Penworth. That was another thing that hadn’t changed.
    He couldn’t restrain a grin as he watched Norrie leave the room. Without doing anything that could earn her a parental reprimand, she managed to display resentment in every line of her body. And while he regretted her departure, there was something he wanted to know, a question he could hardly ask while she was in the room.
    There was a companionable silence while they slid the port along and got their cigars drawing properly. Tunbury leaned back, hoping no tension showed in his posture, and asked, “How is it that Norrie is still unwed? Or is there something in the offing?”
    Rycote snorted, but Lord Penworth smiled gently and said,