Pendragon Read Free Page B

attaching you. You will be careful of any man who goes over the line. Do you understand?”
    â€œOh yes. Aunt Alex told me that she was thrown at you because her papa needed money desperately, but, she told me, since I’m not in that situation, I can just skip about and smile and flirt with whomever pleases me. Papa kept telling me that I was to waltz and learn how everything worked and remain reasonably modest. Mary Rose wants me to see all the plays. Now that I think about it, Uncle Douglas, I don’t think Papa wants me to marry and leave the vicarage until I’m thirty.”
    â€œThat’s possible,” Douglas said, and smiled, imagining that he wouldn’t want a man near his daughter, if he and Alex had produced one, which they hadn’t.
    â€œGrandmother Lydia tells me I must be vigilant or I will end up on the shelf like Aunt Sinjun nearly did. She kept insisting that eighteen was the perfect age to marry.”
    Douglas laughed. “Bless my mother, at least she will never change. You will have fun, Meggie, that’s what it’s all about.”
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    The evening of the Ranleigh ball, Alex said as she smoothed her hands over the soft silk of her deep rose ball gown, “I am so pleased that my waistline is finally down to where my waist actually is.”
    â€œOn the other hand,” Douglas said, looking over at his wife, “you always looked splendid in the empire style, with the focus on your endowments.”
    Meggie wasn’t particularly surprised; it had always been so with her aunts and uncles. She saw her uncle’s fingers creep toward her aunt’s shoulder, pause, then fall back to his side.
    After Douglas had seated his two ladies in the Northcliffe carriage, tapped his gloved fist against the roof, he said to Meggie as the carriage rolled forward, “You will be treated very nicely because, to be very honest about it, no one would ever dare to insult one of my family. On the other hand, both Alex and I are rather well liked in society, as is your uncle Ryder and aunt Sophie. You willbe your charming self, and if you have a question about how to behave in any given situation, just ask either Alex or me.”
    â€œIt’s still rather scary,” Meggie said. “I suspect the balls here are very different from ours in Glenclose-on-Rowan.”
    â€œPeople are the same,” Alex said. “It’s just the gowns and jewels that are more splendid.”
    â€œSome people are idiots,” said Douglas.
    â€œAnd some are not,” Alex said. “Just like at home.”
    â€œHowever,” Douglas said, “as I told you, if any man does anything that makes you uncomfortable, you will immediately tell him to take himself off. Then you will show me the clod and I will feed him a few choice words.”
    â€œYes, Douglas is quite good at that, although he hasn’t had much practice for a long time.”
    Douglas sighed, crossed his arms over his chest. “Just think, Alex. In a couple of years all the boys will be let loose on London. Can you begin to imagine the sorts of messes they will embroil us in?”
    Alex groaned.
    Meggie laughed. She thought of their twin boys, James and Jason—the most beautiful males she’d ever seen in her life. She rolled her eyes, thinking of the two of them strolling into a ballroom and hoards of wide-eyed ladies swooning in ecstasy.
    Lord and Lady Ranleigh greeted their guests at the bottom of the grand staircase that led up to their pride and joy—a ballroom occupying the entire second floor.
    â€œThe first Sherbrooke offspring to appear in Society,” Lady Ranleigh said, smiling at Meggie. “You are blessed with your family, my dear. There are many people eager to meet you. I trust you will enjoy yourself.”
    Meggie said, “Oh yes, ma’am, Aunt Alex says I am to dance holes in my slippers.”
    Meggie continued to smile, to laugh, to make jests with all