Free Lady Alex's Gamble by Evelyn Richardson

Richardson
    anything more to her than a never-ending source of admiration.
    This rather cynical view of his lovely mother had only intensified over the years. As a young man about town, Christopher had been able to witness firsthand her flirtatious behavior. To do the countess justice, she was always a charming and beautiful companion, continually exerting herself to cultivate masculine attention, even if it was only her son's. However, after her second husband had fallen victim to pneumonia, leaving her again bereft of guaranteed devotion, she had become rather tiresome in the demands she made on Christopher. Always gay and coquettish, she had treated him more as an escort than a son, an awkward and embarrassing role for one making his own entrance into society. Her stepson, Hugh, now Earl of Claverdon, had been most disappointing in that regard, as he had resolutely refused to worship her in the proper way. Possessed of a retiring nature, he remained happily at his principal country seat the entire year, never participating in the giddy social world in which his exalted rank would easily have established him as a leader. That he very generously gave over his entire house and staff in Grosvenor Square to his stepmother was quite beside the point when compared to his boorish insistence on staying in the country when she required his escort in town.
    In a short while Christopher, bright, adventurous, and restless as a child, had grown bored with the endless empty rounds of the ton. Unable to derive enough amusement from courting risk at the gaming tables or in curricle races, he had 71
    Lady Alex's Gamble
    by Evelyn Richardson
    cast about for something to make his life both more interesting and more meaningful.
    Unlike his friends, who sought passion and romance in pursuit of the incomparables of the ton or the beauties on the stage, he was left entirely unmoved by the scores of females who did their best to ignite even the tiniest spark of response in such an eligible bachelor. A deadening familiarity with all the stratagems employed by beautiful women left him completely immune to the charms of the most lovely and talented females the capital had to offer. In short, the only person possessed of enough spirit and intelligence to interest and challenge the young Lord Wrotham had been that upstart genius, Napoleon Bonaparte, and, in some smaller part, the general's unflagging adversary. Sir Arthur Wellesley.
    Convinced that the conflict raging on the Continent was the only place likely to offer him an opportunity to do something with his life besides waste it consulting with his tailor or whiling away the hours at White's, Christopher had purchased a commission in the First Hussars. Deaf to his mother's tears and her dire predictions of his immediate demise, he had headed for the Peninsula.
    For one brief moment, he had considered remaining in England and taking an interest in the substantial estates left him by his father, but beyond ensuring that they were run smoothly and profitably, he found little to challenge him there. Besides, if he were to remain at home, he did run the risk of his frivolous parent descending upon him with a large 72
    Lady Alex's Gamble
    by Evelyn Richardson
    house party determined on amusement that he would be expected to provide.
    In fact, desperate to keep at least one captive male within a day's journey, his mother had suggested this very thing to him. Fortunately, when Christopher, firm in his resolve to follow the military life, had called upon her to bid her farewell, he had looked so handsome in his regimentals and had brought with him two brother officers whose appearances were so dashing, that he was able to convince the countess of the appropriateness of his choice.
    The felicity of his decision was soon apparent to all, for Major Lord Wrotham had quickly distinguished himself as an officer whose good sense and cool courage could be relied upon in the most desperate of situations.
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