Read Lady Star for Free Online Page B

have known him, I have encountered
his stubborn streak.” He grinned amiably to soften the words.
    “Right,” she returned and went on. “I sent
poor old Jeffries out for the doctor yesterday in hopes of making
him stay put.”
    “What did he say? What is wrong with your
brother?” This time the question came from Sir Edward making her
look sharply his way.
    “Oh, as to that, Dr. Hayes said he suffers
from the quinsy and should be up and about by the end of the week.”
She could see Sir Edward considering her thoughtfully and felt a
moment’s uneasiness. He couldn’t have recognized her. Even if, as
he said, she looked familiar, he had seemed to accept that she
looked like her cousin. Hadn’t he accepted that? Her hand
fluttered, “Look at me going on in this fashion. I am sorry. Would
you like to accompany me to the house and take tea with me? I was
just about to go up.”
    Jules exclaimed unabashedly, “Indeed, famous
good notion. Tea… we love tea, don’t we Edward?”
    Edward eyed him dubiously and answered
ruefully, “Do we?”
    “Yes, yes, of course we do,” Jules claimed,
his face bright with joy.
    Star laughed, “I had not realized a simple
offer of tea could bring such delight.” Her smiled encompassed both
men as she brushed her hands together and said, “Right then, you
might as well leave your horses here…with our groom, Jeffries and
then come up to the house. I will just go ahead and see Cook about
refreshments.”
    Star felt their eyes on her as she gracefully
as she could, jumped off the fence rail and started off. She sensed
them watching her and turned slightly to wave and found this was
true—they were both watching her and each wore a very different
expression from one another. Again wishing she was groomed and in a
finer gown, she hurried off.
    * * *
    Sir Edward eased himself out of his saddle as
his head was still threatening to spin. He turned to Jules who had
already dismounted and regarded him for a long moment before he
said, “So this is the lady fair who has won over your heart?” He
sounded even to himself incredulous.
    The lady in question, he thought looked no
more than a child, though Jules had told him she was twenty.
Besides that, her manners were freely unaffected, something quite
out of the ordinary for ladies of fashion. Indeed, she could not be
called a lady of fashion, even country fashion. She was nothing
like the women Jules had been interested in over the years.
    She was admittedly, quite a beauty. In fact,
she was a most unusual beauty to be sure. She dressed like a
servant and her hair was short, though its style became her piquant
face. In fact, if he admitted the truth, he found he rather liked
the way her flaxen locks were swept back away from her countenance.
He liked too the way her hair fell across her forehead. Yes, yes,
but she still was no more than a country miss. Her gown was old and
showed signs of wear and although its tight fit displayed her
provocative body to advantage, he was fairly certain she had been
helping her groom in the stables for she was covered with stray
strands of hay and floor dust.
    No doubt the Berkley family had fallen on
difficult times and for no reason at all, this troubled him. She
didn’t appear to be interested in Jules’ status or wealth. In fact,
she didn’t appear interested at all.
    She had been sitting on a post and rail
fence, of all things. Gently bred young women did not work in their
stables and did not sit on fence rails. So then, why did he find
her so intriguing? He didn’t . He was only surprised that
Jules did.
    He looked around himself as they walked
toward the stable entrance and Jules rattled on about the chit at
great length.
    He could see that everything was in a sad
state of disrepair and frowned over it. No doubt, brother and
sister were attempting to maintain their home by working it
themselves and he found that he admired her for that. She held
herself proudly, unashamed of circumstances