Read The Nobody: Signet Regency Romance (InterMix) for Free Online

the fire. “Unquestionably a lady. And innocent. I’d stake my last groat she’d never been kissed before.”
    Mr. Montague gave a crack of laughter. “Yes, one can usually tell! Anything else?”
    “Intelligent. Well-bred. Sense of humor. Pleasant voice, rather low-pitched. Forthright. And utterly fearless.”
    “Fearless?”
    “Consider, Ned: she was accosted on the street by a perfect stranger under circumstances that should have been terrifying to an unescorted female. She was manhandled in a most reprehensible fashion; for all she knew, I could have been as dangerous as the fellows I was running from. To her, in fact, I was! And yet she handled the situation with perfect sangfroid; took me to task very soundly, and walked off by herself without turning a hair.”
    Mr. Montague was unconvinced. “Perhaps she recognized you.”
    Kilverton shook his head. “No, I am positive I have never met the lady. She mentioned she was new to London.” The smile flickered again. “And somehow I feel sure I would remember this girl if I had ever met her before.”
    This was disturbing, but Mr. Montague kept his inevitable reflections to himself. He was aware that Kilverton, after searching in vain for a bride who could stir stronger emotions in him than respect and liking, had recently contracted an extremely eligible engagement. Although the ceremony was not to take place for some months yet, Richard Kilverton was as good as married. Under the circumstances, it was fortunate that he was unlikely to discover the identity of his mysterious charmer. She seemed to be firing his imagination in a rather dangerous way.
    Mr. Montague decided his friend needed to take a damper. He assumed a gloomy tone, shaking his head pessimistically. “Sounds to me like some dashed governess, Kilverton. Probably forty if she’s a day, and hatchet-faced. If you saw her in the daylight, she’d more than likely be covered in spots, or bucktoothed. Mark my words; only a dragon could come through an experience like that without having the vapors.”
    But Kilverton only laughed, stretching his long legs out before him. “Not bucktoothed, Neddie! Of that, at least, I am sure!”
    His shoulder was beginning to pain him, and Ned looked as if he should be in bed, so his lordship soon called for a hackney to take him to his family’s residence in Mount Street. It was late; that was good. No fear of his disheveled appearance alarming anyone. His valet could discreetly dispose of the ruined coat, and no one need know of his adventure.
    He caught himself staring out the windows as the jarvey drove past Curzon Street, trying to calculate the possible direction of a certain young lady’s footsteps, and frowned. What nonsense!
    Lord Kilverton sank back against the squabs and ruefully pondered the fickleness of fate. However silly it undoubtedly was, and however fleeting his interest would no doubt have proved, he felt a pang at finding himself for the first time unable to follow his inclination. If he were unattached, he realized, he would have tried to solve the mystery and find that girl.
    Of course, Ned was right. Once found, she would no doubt prove as insipid as every other female of his acquaintance. But at the moment, it seemed a rather cruel joke that after years of searching, he had finally located a female he felt at least a passing interest in—and it was too late.

Chapter IV
    I t was long before Caitlin could fall asleep that night, and she awakened the next morning feeling little refreshed. One of the housemaids had brought her a pot of morning chocolate, but even this agreeable luxury failed to raise Caitlin’s spirits. She sat up in bed, sipping the hot, sweet liquid gloomily.
    She was in the suds, and no mistake. The more she considered the previous evening, the worse it appeared to her. It was bad enough to have been snubbed by Lady Elizabeth Delacourt, but Caitlin’s cheeks grew hot when she recalled her own behavior. Leaving the party