Seduction Read Free Page A

were
    more casual about such matters. In any event Sophy was convinced her modesty was
    well protected. With her habit carefully arranged this way only her tan
    half-boots showed beneath the skirts.
    Bess caught hold of the horse's bridle and peered up at Sophy. "Here now, girl.
    Ye don't truly believe that tale they tell about his lordship drownin' his first
    wife in Ravenwood Pond, do ye?"
    Sophy sighed. "No, Bess, I do not." It would have been more accurate to say she
    did not want to believe it.
    "Thank the lord, although it be God's truth there ain't none around here who'd
    have blamed the man if he had killed her," Bess admitted.
    "True enough, Bess."
    "Then what's all this nonsense about ye refusin' his lordship's offer? I don't
    care for the look in yer eyes, child. I've seen it before and it don't bode
    well. What are ye up to now?"
    "Now? Why, now I am going to ride old Dancer here back to Chesley Court and then
    I am going to set about storing these herbs you have so kindly given me.
    Grandfather's gout is acting up again and I have run out of his favorite
    decoction."
    "Sophy, darlin', are ye truly goin' to refuse the Earl?"
    "No," Sophy said honestly. "So you need not look so horrified. In the end, if he
    persists, he shall have me. But it will be on my terms."
    Bess's eyes widened. "Ah, now I believe I take yer meanin'. Ye've been readin'
    those books on the rights o' women again, haven't ye? Don't be a fool, child.
    Take some advice from an old woman. Don't be about playin' any of yer games with
    Ravenwood. He's not likely to indulge them. Ye might be able to lead Lord
    Dorring around by a piece of string, but the Earl's a different sort o' man,
    altogether."
    "I agree with you on that point, Bess. The Earl is a vastly different sort of
    man than Grandfather. But try not to worry about me. I know what I am doing."
    Sophy collected the reins and gave Dancer a nudge with her heel.
    "Nay, child, I'm not so sure o' that, ' Bess called after her. "Ye don't tease
    the devil and expect to come away unharmed."
    "I thought you said Ravenwood was not a devil," Sophy retorted over her shoulder
    as Dancer broke into a lumbering trot.
    She waved at Bess as the horse headed into a stand of trees. There was no need
    to guide Dancer back toward Chesley Court. He had made the trip so often during
    the past few years that he knew the route over Ravenwood lands by heart.
    Sophy let the reins rest lightly on Dancer's neck as she considered the scene
    she would undoubtedly discover when she got back to Chesley Court.
    Her grandparents would be distraught, of course. Lady Dorring had taken to her
    bed this morning, an array of fortifying salts and tonics arranged nearby. Lord
    Dorring, who had been left to face Ravenwood alone, would probably be consoling
    himself with a bottle of claret by now. The small house staff would be quietly
    morose. A suitable connection for Sophy would have been in their best interests
    as well as everyone else's. Without a respectable marriage settlement to fill
    the family coffers there was little hope of a pension for aging servants.
    No one in the household could be expected to understand Sophy's staunch refusal
    of Ravenwood's offer. Rumors, gossip, and grim tales aside, the man was, after
    all, an Earl—a wealthy and powerful one at that. He owned most of the
    surrounding neighborhood there in Hampshire as well as two other smaller estates
    in neighboring counties. He also had an elegant house in London.
    As far as the local people were concerned, Ravenwood ran his lands well and was
    fair with his tenants and servants. That was all that truly mattered in the
    country. Those who were dependent on the Earl and who were careful not to cross
    him enjoyed a comfortable living.
    Ravenwood had his faults, everyone agreed, but he took care of the land and the
    people on it. He may have murdered his wife but he had refrained from doing
    anything truly heinous such as throwing away his entire inheritance in