A Rogue Worth the Risk by Collette Cameron EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Author: Collette Cameron
- Language: English
- Formats: PDF / EPUB
- Status: Available For Free Download
- Series: None
- Price: Free
- File Size: 2 MB
Essex, England
Nottingshire Court
Home of Lady Pandora Osborne
Middle of January — Evening
I shouldn’t have come.
This was a monumental mistake. A sodding, imbecilic, bloody mistake.
Putting two fingers to the jagged scar zigzagging across his left cheek,
Caspian Graystone, Baron Strathmore—called the blackhearted baron behind
his back and occasionally to his face—paused inside the ballroom’s glittering
entrance.
Why had he allowed Ronan Brockman and Manchester, Marquess of
Sterling, to talk him into attending what was certain to be a week-long,
excruciatingly tedious pain in the posterior? Cynicism bent Caspian’s mouth
upward, and anyone glancing in his direction would recognize him for what
he was—a jaded, sardonic skeptic.
Elegantly coiffed ladies draped in sparkling jewels and swathed in silks
and satins in every shade of the rainbow twirled around the chalked parquet
dance floor with gentlemen attired in the first stare of fashion.
Pretentious popinjays and conceited coxcombs, the lot.
Nay, not all of the fellows.
According to Brockman, a few other sensible chaps made the coveted
guest list, though how Brockman came by that exclusive information was
anyone’s guess. The Earls of Hythe, Bixley, and Barington, as well as
Viscounts Harcourt, Silverton, and the Duke of Sedgewick were expected.
Whether the lords chose to subject themselves to this gratuitous torment or
not, however…
They were the only thing that kept Caspian from turning on his heel and
sequestering himself for the evening in the study or library with a bottle of
prime scotch. Mayhap not a bottle, but a dram or two.
In truth, the notion tempted greatly.
Though an aristocrat by birthright, Caspian didn’t belong here—didn’t
belong amongst le beau monde. The ton had made that perfectly clear six
years ago. Regardless, he’d made his friends a promise, and if nothing else—
despite the smudges upon his dented reputation—Caspian was a man of his
word.
In point of fact, just appearing tonight would suffice as the fulfillment of
his pledge to attend the house party. No need to torture himself and stay more
than a day or two.
Besides, he preferred to monitor Thirkwick Park’s reconstruction progress
himself. He’d far rather be there laying bricks, hoisting lumber, nailing
flooring, or performing any number of other tasks required to rebuild the
once-magnificent manor that had sustained grievous fire damage.
The very inferno Caspian had escaped by diving through an upper-story
window—hence his scarred face and arm. The blaze had also taken the lives
of his entire family: father, brother, pregnant sister-in-law, and demented
stepmother, Florinda. Caspian would go to his grave convinced Florinda had
set the fire in one of her frequent and ever more irrational frenzies.
With pure determination, he took a firm grip on his memory and veered
his disquieting musings from that fateful night. With bored disinterest, he
surveyed the festive tableau before him. The merest pinch of a headache
throbbed behind his eyes as it inevitably did when he entertained
recollections of the deadly conflagration that had left him alone in the world.
The fire that had also left Caspian a pariah to Society.
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