Read Jonathan and Amy for Free Online Page B

being scandalized.”
    My dear? “Are you mocking me, sir?”
    â€œI am mocking myself.” He shifted beside her, and while he probably didn’t realize it, this brought his arm in direct contact with Amy’s shoulders. She savored the closeness and tried to attend his words.
    â€œIn what regard would you mock yourself?”
    â€œVery few of those rules matter, do they, Amy? I can still be a gentleman if I forget my top hat on a sunny day. I can still be a disgrace if I have perfect table manners. I sincerely hope this is so. In the alternative, I must conclude that I am not now, nor will I ever be, a gentleman.”
    Amy? “But you are the most honor—”
    She broke off when he turned toward her. The arm resting on her shoulders was no longer a casual weight; it encircled her person in a gentle but clearly intentional semblance of an embrace.
    He brought his free hand up and used two fingers to caress Amy’s jaw.
    â€œA gentleman does not make advances toward a woman in his employ, Amy Ingraham. I must conclude I cannot be gentleman.” He brushed her hair back from her temple with the callused pad of his thumb. “My relief at this realization is boundless.”
    ***
    â€œMore tea, my lords?”
    â€œOh, come now.” Bonny’s eyes twinkled in the most nauseating fashion as he passed his cup back to dear cousin Hecate. “Wooster here is your cousin. Surely the milording can keep for more formal occasions?”
    Nigel roused himself from dismal contemplation of the stale half cake on his plate. “I insist. We cousins must not stand on ceremony. I cannot think why you haven’t called on us in Hampshire of a summer. Mama would be delighted to have the company.”
    Mama would turn the hounds loose on him for suggesting such a thing.
    Women above the age of twenty-two ought never simper, but neither Drusilla nor Hecate demonstrated awareness of this universal truth.
    â€œWe couldn’t,” said Hecate at the same moment Drusilla cooed, “We’d love to.”
    â€œThen I’ll send the traveling coach to fetch you as soon as you establish a date with Mama. But tell me”—he made himself take a sip of his tea, the better to appear nonchalant—“where is Cousin Amy and might we persuade her to join your visit to the family seat?”
    If Bonny took exception to the imperial we, he was too well-bred to show it.
    The sisters exchanged a look incomprehensible to Nigel by virtue of it being a look exchanged between females, and also a look exchanged between twin females.
    â€œAmy is tending to her charge,” Drusilla said. “I understand the family rusticates this time of year.”
    Either Amy hadn’t told her sisters she was at Dolan’s country holding, or Drusilla and Hecate were exercising a touch of discretion on their older sister’s behalf.
    Bonny cast a puzzled glance at Nigel. “If Miss Ingraham is employed in the household of Mr. Dolan—do I have that right?—then I believe he might be related to your distant neighbor, the Marquess of Deene. I can never keep all these Society connections straight, but perhaps you ladies can untangle it for me?”
    No wonder Bonny had the prettiest, most accommodating mistresses, because without even a conniving glance between them, Drusilla and Hecate were racing each other to explain that the dear baron had it exactly right.
    â€œAnd while Amy might certainly by rights find a position in a more exalted house,” Hecate said, “it must be allowed that Mr. Dolan’s family connections are impeccable.”
    Drusilla nodded sagely over a plate of cakes, which Nigel had found to his regret were at least a day old. “Deene married a duke’s daughter, no less, and it’s said to be a love match.”
    More simpering, which had the weak tea and stale cakes threatening to rebel.
    â€œWe ought to call on her,” Nigel