Miss in a Man's World Read Free

did she attend to my slight hurts, she also insisted I had something to eat when she learned I hadn’t had a morsel since breaking my fast early this morning. I’m afraid I simply couldn’t resist the offer of sweet game pie and a bowl of broth, and returned to the coaching inn on the other side of town only to discover the stage had departed some thirty minutes previously. The innkeeper there told me of a carrier he knew on the outskirts, but by the time I’d located the premises the carrier had long since departed for the capital, so I decided to continue walking until I found a suitable inn where I might put up for the night.’
    â€˜In that case, your luck’s in, child, for I am boundfor the metropolis myself, and can take you wherever you wish to go.’
    â€˜Oh, thank you, sir! That would be most agreeable!’
    The smile that accompanied the response was so enchanting that his lordship was quite startled by it. Then the astounding possibility that had momentarily occurred to him at their first encounter once again crossed his mind.
    Leaning back against the velvet upholstery, he studied his youthful companion beneath half-shuttered lids. Hair, every bit as black as his own, was confined at the nape of a slender white neck with a length of ribbon. Beneath the tricorn hat the delicately featured face turned slightly, thereby offering him a perfect view of a profile that boasted high cheekbones, a small straight nose, a sweetly shaped mouth with a slightly protruding upper lip, and a perfectly sculptured little chin. Although a frock-coat of good quality adequately concealed the upper body, there was no mistaking the slender straight limbs beneath the knee-breeches and soiled stockings.
    â€˜You have yet to inform me precisely where you are bound, child,’ his lordship reminded his companion, with a satisfied half-smile, as he drew his eyes away from narrow feet shod in buckled shoes.
    Those striking orbs once again turned in the Viscount’s direction. ‘Oh, if you could just set me down at some respectable inn, sir, I would be immensely grateful.’
    â€˜Would you, indeed,’ his lordship purred silkily, as he once again cast a speculative glance over his companion’s trim form. ‘Yes, I feel sure we could come to some mutually—er—satisfactory arrangement,’ he added, before he watched one slender hand delve intothe portmanteau and draw out a surprisingly bulging leather purse.
    â€˜What would you consider adequate largesse, sir?’
    For several seconds his lordship didn’t know whether to feel amused or annoyed. The chit couldn’t be serious! Surely she wasn’t so naïve as to suppose he was suggesting payment in cash? Or was she?
    For several very good reasons Lord Fincham had learned to be mistrustful of the fair sex. Yet, for some obscure reason, which escaped him entirely, he was prepared to give the intriguing little minx opposite, for he no longer doubted her true sex for a moment, the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, if she wished to continue the charade, then he’d play the game, for the present, at least.
    â€˜Put the purse away, child!’ he ordered, once again more sharply than he had intended, simply because, had the truth been known, he was annoyed with himself for his own indecisiveness where this girl was concerned. ‘I require no payment,’ he said more gently. ‘In view of the service you rendered earlier in the day, it is the very least I can do.’
    Even as he said this he was having renewed doubts about their earlier encounter. Had it been all as innocent as it had seemed? Or had the whole incident been very carefully staged by one of his degenerate acquaintances as a jest? For reasons that escaped him entirely, he was once again prepared to give his companion the benefit of the doubt.
    â€˜But as we shall be bearing each other company for the next hour or so, I’d best