The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane Read Free

unprotected in the middle of an
abandoned highway near twilight, but she had little fear of the
masculine gender. Her native ability to quickly judge the character
of her adversary had added further ginger to her words.
    She was not disappointed. Mention of Emily’s
brother, the Duke, gave Mr. Harlow pause, and a slight shiver
skipped down his spine like a stone skimmed across the calm waters
of a stream. The wretched woman was right, damn her. Without a
backward glance at Lady Emily, he alit from the curricle, unhitched
his greys and mounted—with more haste than style—the nearest one.
Only then did he turn in his seat and doff his curly-brimmed beaver
to the two ladies.
    He seemed to have regained his poise, if not
his scruples—which could not have been very strong in the first
place considering he was an admitted abductor of heiresses.
    “Ta-ta, Emily, love,” he called jauntily.
“Give my regards to your dear brother. And you madam,” he
continued, looking down at his ex-love’s champion, “I hear
Cheltenham is tolerably well sprinkled with plump-in-the-purse cits
who are at least one generation away from the smell of the shop. My
thanks, good lady. Upon reflection on the charms of sweet Emily, I
do believe you may have saved me from a sad end on the gallows. I
probably would have murdered the chit within the month, were we
really leg-shackled. Speaks like a Penny Dreadful, she does, and
unceasingly. Her pretty face was to be some compensation. But then,
it seems I remember that the most glorious of birds, the peacock,
likewise sends up an awful screech each time it opens its
beak.”
    “Farewell, Mr. Harlow,” replied Tansy, who
relented and gave a genuine smile of amusement at this brash young
puppy. “Good luck to you. You are a very well set up young man,
just flying a bit too high for safety—absconding with the sister of
a Duke! Better set your sights on an only child next time—or better
still, an orphan. Goodbye, Mr. Harlow.”
    The young man, down but far from out, blew an
irreverent kiss to the eccentrically appealing woman standing in
the middle of the North Road. Then he kicked at his horse’s flanks
and was off at once, bouncing down the road toward—he hoped and
Tansy secretly seconded—a brighter future.

Chapter Two
    T ansy walked back to
the gig, her head shaking back and forth slightly and a chuckle
escaping her lips. “A fine one you are,” exclaimed Lady Emily with
a definite pout. “It would almost seem as if I were the guilty
party and Godfrey an innocent lamb. I was used, I tell you, sadly
used!”
    “Fiddlesticks,” countered her companion
without rancor. “You got just what you set out for—excitement—and a
bit more than you bargained for, I’ll wager. You never intended to
wed that young scapegrace. Confess! You left an enlightening note,
right where your unfortunate brother would see it and come charging
posthaste to the rescue,” Tansy concluded. And then, in a gentler
voice, she inquired, “What’s wrong, my dear? Are you sadly
neglected by this brother of yours? Not in a material way,
obviously, but does he sometimes need to be reminded you are no
longer hidden in the nursery with your governess?”
    That arrow hit home. Instead of condemning
her unfeeling relatives, though—or even resorting to the already
used ploy of tears produced-to-order—Lady Emily gave out with a
delicious giggle. “Oh, you are so very quick! Aren’t I beastly to
have used poor Godfrey so shabbily?” she bubbled merrily.
    “Utterly criminal I’d say,” concurred Tansy.
“But then, had I your face, title and money, I daresay I should be
an even worse termagant than you could ever aspire to be. I have a
decided talent for mischief, or so my poor harassed Papa used to
say. It is such fun to be the center of all attention, is it
not?”
    “Oh, dear, it is a very good thing for me you
are not my aunt. If Aunt Ce-Ce thought as you, I should never have
any diversions.”
    “My dear