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

kitchen. Leslie raced out the door, sniffing happily at the summer air. She pulled off one of the grapes and flipped it expertly into her mouth, relishing the sweet-sour coolness on her dry throat. Cutting through the garden, she rounded the far corner of the maze and slammed full tilt into a solid obstacle. The wind went out of her in a whoosh. She fell backward onto the grass, apples and grapes flying in all directions. Angrily she brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked up into Pax's face, wreathed in a welcoming smile.
    Leslie's own mouth widened into a delighted grin as she stared up at her guardian. He looked immense, his muscular figure outlined by the sky. At thirty, Pax was an extremely handsome man. A strength of character etched his finely sculpted features. His unruly black hair still tumbled on his forehead, but there were now wings of white at Pax's temples.
    "Not damaged, I trust," he asked extending a suntanned hand to pull his ward upright.
    "I'm not some puling babe, crying over every injury," Leslie bristled in annoyance.
    "I hadn't realized that fifteen was such an advanced age," Pax drawled.
    The Duke stood back, his head cocked in thought as Leslie pulled herself to attention. As always she was slightly nervous at his close scrutiny but could tell by his expression he still saw only a young boy. Her eyes widened in amazement as Pax took out a quizzing glass and holding it by the black ribbon, raised it with a haughty air.
    "Oh, Pax. Never say you've taken to a dandy glass." Leslie snorted disgustedly. "You must be bamming me."
    "A little more respect for your elders, brat. Let's have a look at you."
    Pax peered through the glass, impressed by the air of refinement in the boy's clothes and carriage. He smiled, remembering the bedraggled figure who had arrived from India. There was a bloom of health on the boy's cheeks, although the child apparently had not had any significant growth spurt. Leslie was small-boned and lightly muscled, his head coming up only to Pax's shoulder. Five-three at the most, Pax thought, frowning in concentration. Probably a late bloomer. This year the boy ought to be filling out and shooting up. Tapping the quizzing glass on the edge of his chin, Pax smiled down at Leslie.
    "I've had good reports from your tutors. Grantham in particular says you're doing extremely well in the classics, although he thinks you might apply yourself more in math and Latin."
    "Rubbish, Pax. The old graybeard always needs something to carp about. Says I'm too puffed up with my own consequence from always getting my way."
    "A good school would be just the ticket."
    "Give over, do. You know I won't go." Leslie kicked nervously at a clump of grass, feeling her guardian's censorious eye.
    "You should have given Eton a chance, lad. It's a good school and you would have found plenty of friends to get up to every rig and row with." As Leslie's head remained stubbornly bent, Pax patted the lad's shoulder in a comradely spirit until troubled blue eyes lifted to his own.
    "Even if you were away a lot, Pax, it was a shabby trick to ship me off." Leslie's face was serious as she stared up at her guardian. "At least without asking me. It would have saved everybody a jot of trouble because I would have told you right off I wouldn't go."
    "I thought at the time it was for the best," Pax mused, leading the boy along the path toward the center of the garden. "You never did tell me how the devil's henchmen got you out of the school."
    "Jacko and Manji?" She was surprised her guardian knew her friends had helped free her when she had been summarily shipped off to Eton. Glancing up at Pax through a fringe of eyelashes, she noticed the crooked grin and twinkling eyes. "Wish you could have been there. It was a heavenly lark. I wound a rope around my waist under my clothes. Couldn't risk anyone finding it in my trunks. Then, after dark, I just lowered myself from the window. Manji and Jacko were waiting for me."
    Pax