Karla Darcy - [Sweet Deception Regency 04] Read Online Free Page A

been back from giving Boney a proper thrashing, there's been much for him to do, child." He placed the tray on a table safely out of the girl's reach.
    "Ah, Jacko. Our first summer at Windhaven was such fun. Pax and I did everything together. Then he went off to war and has only been back for a week or two at a time. I thought sure when all the fighting was done it would be just like that first summer." Leslie sighed wistfully up at her old friend. "I had such plans! I wanted to show him all the new colts and how my riding had improved. I planned picnics and walks in the woods. I was going to ride around with him to all the tenants. But ever since he's been home he's been different."
    "Times change, Leslie. The Duke was a boy himself when we arrived, for all that he was twenty-five. His father's death brought him responsibility. The war brought him maturity."
    "It's awful growing up, Jacko."
    "Only in fairy tales do things ever remain the same."
    "Well, at least we're finally going to have some excitement," Leslie said, looking more cheerful. "It's been a proper bore with Cecily here. But Mrs. Tomlinson told me that a masquerade ball is being planned. Just three days away. The whole county's being invited and there'll be piles of food and pastries. And you'll never guess what I found! I was up in the attic rooms and found a trunk full of old costumes. And there's a topping fine one that fits me grand. It's a Crusader. There's a white tunic with a scarlet cross on the front, a chain mail shirt, boots and even a sword and shield. Just wait until Pax sees me!"
    "I dunno if you should get your hopes up too high, Leslie. Your guardian's not one to give you free rein when he's here. He's not about to catapult you into the midst of an adult party at your age. After all, in his eyes you're only fifteen."
    "What fustian. That's old enough. Once he sees how much I want to go, he'll just have to let me attend. Won't he, Jacko?"
    Jacko looked sadly at the expressive face under the mass of sleep-tossed curls, his heart aching for the girl. He and Manji had been wrong to let her continue with the deception. Leslie had no real identity. She had no friends of her own age, and in many ways she was still a child. They had guarded her too well. At nineteen she had no sense of her own womanhood; she had grown up almost sexless. Leslie was a child with a child's delight in the world around her, living for the moment.
    Angry with his own thoughts, Jacko picked up the tray of dishes and headed for the anteroom. "You should be outside, child, not moping around like a totty-headed wench."
    "I'm going, Jacko." Leslie grinned, jumping out of bed. Her moments of sadness evaporated as she thought of her plans for the day. She must convince Pax that she should be included in the grown-up party. She washed quickly, then brushed her curly hair into a tight queue at the back of her neck. To her utter mortification, Jacko had had to fashion a tight undershirt which would flatten her breasts under her clothes. Leslie pulled her silk shirt on quickly to hide the ugly binding and stuffed her arms into the sleeves of a tweed hunting jacket, buttoning it firmly across her flattened bosom. Finally she tied a wide striped scarf at her neck, fastening it with her father's stickpin.
    With much ceremony Jacko had presented the pin to Leslie on her eighteenth birthday. She stroked the gold oval on the head of the pin, feeling the finely etched lines of the beautiful Spanish lady's face. Her father always referred to it as the "Magdalena". He had found it during his first battle and always considered it his lucky piece. Jacko had told her that Magdalena was the only woman her mother had been jealous of.
    With a shout to Jacko in the next room, Leslie tore out the door and along the hallway to the servants' stairway and made her way to the kitchens. She snatched up an apple and a bunch of grapes and winked broadly at Cook, the surprisingly softhearted tyrant of the