To Rescue a Rogue

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Book: To Rescue a Rogue Read Free
Author: Jo Beverley
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or Simon hurt because of my stupidity. I don’t even want Berkstead killed. It was at least half my fault.”
    â€œHe’s a louse.”
    She looked at his set face and wanted to scream with frustration. Instead, being an experienced sister, she tried piteous. “ Please, Dare.”
    He briefly closed his eyes. “Very well. You won’t mind, I assume, if I warn him away from making further trouble?”
    â€œI’d be very grateful. And,” she added, “no one else need know? You won’t tell Simon?”
    Or Father, she thought.
    â€œIf you don’t want Berkstead dead, I most definitely won’t tell your devil-haired brother. But I probably should tell your father. Perhaps he’d whip some sense into you.”
    â€œYou know he wouldn’t, but please don’t.” She reached to touch his arm. “I promise I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll never do anything like that again. I was just so bored .”
    He moved slightly back, breaking the contact. “Didn’t Johnson say that when someone is tired of London, they’re tired of life?”
    â€œI’m not tired of it. I haven’t yet experienced it. Ella’s expecting. To be fair, she didn’t know when she offered, but apparently at this stage she’s incapable of anything more than tea with friends, quiet concerts, and drives in the park. Never, of course, at a fashionable hour. Too much noise and hurley-burley.”
    â€œWhich is exactly what you want.”
    She responded to the understanding in his eyes. “Is it so bad? We were here for the special Drawing Room on St. George’s day, but that would have been absolutely too much for her.”
    â€œIn fairness, it probably would have been, and a dead bore to boot.”
    â€œBut it would have been something. Almack’s. The theater. Something. Ella’s house is quieter than Brideswell.”
    â€œNot difficult to achieve.” Perhaps there was a smile in his eyes.
    She smiled back, for her crowded home was all bustle and life. “No, but you know what I mean. The only guests are matrons like Ella, talking endlessly of husbands and children, and George’s fellow MPs wanting to discuss the Corn Laws, sedition, or the ruinous cost of the army. All very important, I’m sure, but tedious.”
    â€œEnter this military Berkstead. I assume he’s handsome and dashing.”
    â€œFor a man of his age.” She almost added, He was at Waterloo , but thought better of it. That was where Dare had been so terribly wounded. “He took me to amusing places such as the waxworks and the Egyptian Hall. And he knows all the best scandals.”
    He stood, dropping the washcloth in the bowl. “You need some livelier lady to chaperone you.”
    Clearly he did not approve of waxworks, the Egyptian Hall, and especially not of scandals. Could he really have become so prosy?
    â€œNone of my friends from Lincolnshire are in London yet. Simon and Jane are to come soon, but it keeps being put off. It is excruciating to be so close to a treat but have to view it from within a cage.”
    â€œPoor Mara.”
    Her deliberate exaggeration had been rewarded with the ghost of a smile. Suddenly she needed to revive the old Dare, to make him smile as he used to—widely, brilliantly, infectiously. She needed him to make a witty joke, or propose some outrageous piece of mischief—daring her, daring everyone, to join him.
    He was only twenty-six. Surely not too old for merriment and mischief. War, wounds, and other problems may have ground down his spirits, but it must be possible to build them up again.
    He carried the basin back to the washstand and then turned to study her. Something about his stance, or the candlelight, or her steadier nerves made her aware that the changes were not entirely for the worse.
    He was still slim, but stronger, with broader shoulders and more muscle. There was something

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