Read The Seduction of Lady Charity: The Baxendale Sisters Book Four for Free Online

have not, my lord,” Mama said.
    “Then it is my pleasure to invite you and Lord Baxendale to Castle Craighead. Scotland is very beautiful in autumn.”
    “Thank you, my lord, but I’m afraid that’s impossible. Perhaps another time. Lord Baxendale is unwell.”
    “I’m sorry to hear it.” Gunn jammed his broad body into a dainty brocade-covered chair, looking uncomfortable.
    “Shall I have the portrait delivered to your London address, Lord Gunn?” Charity asked as she took the seat opposite him. She thought he looked quite out of place, so big and brash. Was he a rake? She’d seen no sign of it, but he did make her a little uneasy.
    “No thank you. I’ll call to collect it next week,” he said, as the tea tray was brought in.
    After Lord Gunn had left, Mama came into the studio. “Why did Gunn want to call in person to collect the painting?” She cast Charity a narrow-eyed glance. “I expected he would send a servant or have it delivered.”
    “As did I, Mama,” Charity said mildly. She suspected the Scot was not done with them. “He has made up his mind that we must visit his castle. I imagine he is seldom thwarted.”
    “I doubt he’d be too disappointed if I didn’t go,” her mother said dryly. “It’s you who draws him here, my dear.”
    “Perhaps.” Charity set another half-finished work on the easel.
    “What do you think of him?” Mama asked.
    She attempted to read her mother’s expression. “His manners are deplorable, but I rather like him. He has paid most generously for his portrait.” She still couldn’t believe that she’d actually earned money doing what she loved.
    “What if he asked you to marry him…would you consider it?”
    Charity widened her eyes. “Are you so keen on me marrying you’d even have me marry Lord Gunn?”
    “What nonsense.” Mama said briskly. “I merely wondered if you liked him in that way. I did hope you would marry Robin. But I now realize it’s unlikely.”
    Charity felt a rush of guilt for not having told her mother about Robin’s proposal. She’d almost succumbed but decided it would upset her father too much to learn of it. And as Robin had stopped writing to her, she supposed his affection for her didn’t run very deep. She drew in a breath. “I thought you didn’t like Lord Gunn.”
    “As I have said, I am reserving my judgment.” Her mother glanced around the room. “I shall have to take Vanessa to task. When did she last clean this room?”
    “Please don’t. I asked her not to. I don’t want her tidying my paints and whisking dust onto a wet canvas.”
    Mama frowned. “Then dust the room yourself, please. I am leaving before I start to sneeze. The smell of all your painting paraphernalia is bad enough.”
    Charity smiled. “I must have inherited my creative desires from someone, Mama.”
    “Yes,” Mama said, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “It could have been your father’s Great Aunt Letty. She became quite mad in the end.”
    “Oh, Mama, I believe you are embroidering,” Charity said with a laugh. “But tell me, did she have talent?”
    ****
    His patience wearing thin, Robin stood before his new valet and waited for him to stop fiddling with his cravat. Robin was forced to admit the arrangement was skillful and praised him for it.
    After Ponsonby whisked a brush over his black superfine-clad shoulders, Robin went downstairs to join his sister, Louise. They stood to greet the guests as they entered the ballroom.
    The widowed Lady Boothby curtseyed before them, her tall ostrich feathers bobbing. “Your Grace.”
    “Lady Boothby. I don’t believe you’ve met my sister, Lady Miller.”
    “How do you do, Lady Miller. May I present my daughter, Kitty.”
    “Kitty. How charming you look,” Louise said.
    Kitty bobbed, her cheeks flooded with pink, her enormous brown eyes dark with either apprehension or excitement, he couldn’t be sure. She wore white silk, trimmed with lace and blue ribbons, and