Lady Faith Takes a Leap Read Free

wonder. Would you go against your father’s wishes?”
    Faith opened her mouth and closed it again, finding she had no answer.
    “I thought not.” Vaughn’s dark eyebrows slanted in a frown.  
    “I expect to marry a man who pleases both me and my father,” she said stiffly.
    “A fine sentiment,” he said dryly.
    How cynical he seemed!
    A sudden gust of wind whipped the parasol out of Faith’s hands. It tumbled along the bank near the water’s edge with him in pursuit.
    Vaughn was extremely athletic. He caught the parasol as the breeze propelled it in the direction of the river and turned with a laugh while Charity cheered him.
    He handed the parasol to Faith. “Thank you, my lord.”
    “My pleasure, it would have been a shame to lose it. Such a pretty thing.”
    Faith’s cheeks heated. She wasn’t sure why, but the way he looked at her when he said it made it seem he was complimenting her rather than her sunshade.
    He turned away and strolled back to inspect Charity’s painting. They were soon in discussion about the shadows on the oak’s trunk.
    Faith nibbled her bottom lip. Some years ago, Lord Vaughn had been sent down from Oxford. It must have been something serious. Many young men responded to dares, got up to pranks and were rusticated for a term. But Vaughn had been suspended. She would love to know the reason. Tunbridge Wells had been rife with gossip about him for years, how he had become a gambler and got into debt. How he refused a commission in the army and lived an aimless life in London. There had been little fodder for the gossips since he’d gone to York, however. But something had happened since, she was certain, for his eyes were shadowed despite his smile. His rebellious ways had been a source of fascination, when she’d always been one to obey a command and never dared upset the family. It was a woman’s lot, she supposed with a sigh.
    To be honest, her Season hadn’t proved to be as thrilling as she’d hoped, and until this point, she hadn’t understood why. Her childhood had been so uneventful. Safe. Although warned of how dangerous they were, the so-called rakes she’d encountered held no appeal, though she did yearn for excitement and not to have her life mapped out so carefully. If she married Lord Fitzgibbon, she feared excitement was unlikely to come her way.
    “I look forward to seeing you all at the hunt ball,” Vaughn said, sounding polite, as if his good humor had deserted him.
    “Honor and Edward are coming,” Charity said.
    “It will be good to see them. Will you promise me a dance, Lady Charity?”
    Charity chortled and flicked back another errant lock, which now had a dab of green paint on it. “I am not yet out, my lord.”
    “Then I shall join the line of keen dance partners next year.” He turned to Faith. “And you, Lady Faith?” He cocked a dark eyebrow. “Will you save a dance for me? We might dance a waltz on the terrace, under the moon.”
    “And we might not.”
    Vaughn might have asked her to dance naked, such a look he gave her. Her body responded in an alarming fashion. She had a strong urge to laugh and agree. How outrageous he was and how easily he stirred her child-like adventurous spirit, which she had wrestled into submission, with just one look.
    “In the ballroom then, amongst other sober souls,” Vaughn said.
    “Then I shall be delighted, my lord.”
    Vaughn’s dog had taken to running along the bank, barking furiously. “I must go,” he said with a bow. “Enjoy your pastoral pleasures, ladies.”
    He jammed on his hat and returned the way he came, reaching the other side of the river with graceful ease. His dog jumped up at him with joyful barks, and with a careless wave, he disappeared into the trees.
    Paintbrush poised, Charity watched her. “You always had a thing for him,” she said. “It seems you still do. I’ve never seen you so discombobulated.”
    Faith fought to guard her heart. Maddening, that the years hadn’t