Read The Betting Season (A Regency Season Book) for Free Online

off whatever it is he’s sucking down these days.”
    Casemore blanched, but his dangerous expression returned a moment later. “I’m not his keeper. But I am Pippa’s. And you will keep your loathsome distance from my sister. Do you hear me?”
    Truly, Berkswell should have sent Casemore to Jason’s breakfast room that first morning. The younger brother could very possibly put the fear of God in some men. Jason wasn’t one of them, however. “I will tell you the same thing I told your brother. I have never been interested in schoolgirls. I prefer my women a bit more…ripe. More experienced. My reputation should speak to that. So if you are through with your threats, I will continue my stroll.”
    Then he brushed past Pippa’s brother, continuing his lazy jaunt towards Curzon Street.
    “ I am warning you!” Casemore called to Jason’s back.
    But Jason simply lifted his arm in acknowledgement of the threat. “Indeed, I have been warned. Good day to you, Lord Harrison. And good luck frightening away other pedestrians this afternoon.”

    Pippa glanced back down at her needlepoint, but her heart wasn’t in it. Nor was her mind. Both were fluttering high above Berkswell House, drifting closer and closer to the clouds.
    He’d called on her. He’d actually called. She hadn’t imagined him as she’d begun to wonder, or fear, rather. And tonight, she’d get to see him again. A sigh escaped her as the parlor doors burst open and an enraged Harry stalked inside.
    “ Heavens!” Pippa leapt to her feet, dropping her needlepoint to the settee. “Are you all right, Harry?”
    His angry eyes settled on her. “St. Austell,” he grunted.
    “ St. Austell?” Pippa echoed. “Has he done something else now?”
    Relief started to settle across Harry’s face and he raked a hand through his dark hair. “Encountered the blackguard outside. I’d worried he’d been here.”
    “ Then you can breathe easier, Harry. He hasn’t been here.” And had he been, Pippa had no doubt Lord Colebrooke would have tossed the wicked earl outside on his ear.
    Harry agreed with a slight nod. “Davis said some other fellow was, however. Some name he didn’t recognize.”
    “ Lord Colebrooke.” Pippa couldn’t keep the smile from her voice. “He had tea with Aunt and me.”
    “ We had tea,” Aunt Eunice agreed and lifted up her cup as though presenting evidence. “Handsome young fellow.”
    “ Who the devil is Colebrooke?” Harry demanded.
    Aunt Eunice gasped, most likely at Harry’s choice of words.
    “ Harry!” Pippa chastised at the exact moment Georgie appeared in the parlor’s threshold.
    “ Colebrooke?” Georgie asked. “Did the elusive viscount make an appearance?”
    Pippa smiled, relieved more than a little by her friend’s arrival. “Georgie, I’m so glad you’ve come.” And she was. Georgie knew everything there was to know about practically everything. And Pippa had certain things that needed to be sorted through.
    Harry spun on his heels and nodded curtly in greeting, apparently not terribly keen to continue his questioning with Georgie now present. “Lady Georgiana,” he grumbled.
    “ Lord Harrison, so nice to see you again.”
    “ Harry,” Pippa began, her tone just the teensiest bit placating. “Georgie is going to accompany us to Vauxhall Gardens tonight, did you remember?”
    Her brother nodded, though he looked far from pleased. “Yes, of course. Just so long as the two of you keep each other out of trouble.”
    Pippa couldn’t help but laugh. “As long as Albie doesn’t offer me any of his brandy, I’m certain I’ll be fine.”
    After a warning glance, Harry quit the room, brushing past Georgie and mumbling something under his breath.
    Georgie cocked her head towards the corridor and her blond curls bobbed against her shoulders. “He’s usually in much better spirits, isn’t he? He always seemed so to me.”
    Pippa dropped back on to the settee and patted the seat beside her. “He