Free An Unexpected Encounter ( Half Moon House, Novella 1) by Deb Marlowe Page A

Aurelia,
still absorbed in her newt and bidding her friends a good day. “My
ward. Freddy’s daughter.”
    Ashburn’s face fell. “Ah. I did hear about
that. I’m sorry indeed for your loss. I know you were close.” He
brightened and reached back for the frowning young lady leaving his
side. “Well, since you are still single, allow me to introduce my
sister. She’s out for her first Season this year. Carina, make your
nod to Lord Cotwell. He and I were at school together.”
    The girl dipped a shallow curtsy and her gaze
slid away. Lisbeth’s fists tightened at her rudeness.
    “You should have had a look at him his first
Season,” Ashburn laughed. “He’d had some sort of fire in his
rooms—”
    “An explosion,” the baron interrupted.
    “Yes, and it singed near half his eyebrows
off! An odd-looking thing it was too. We called him Sparsebrow that
year. Did we have a few laughs over it, I’ll tell you!”
    “More than a few,” Lord Cotwell murmured.
    Miss Ashburn’s eyes flew to the baron’s
perfectly lovely brows, then visibly traveled over every crease and
stain on his person. “Yes, well. So nice to meet you, my lord.”
    An artist might have captured her attitude
and titled it Polite Dismissal. It set Lisbeth’s teeth to grinding
but Lord Cotwell appeared impervious. He wasn’t even looking at the
young lady. Instead his gaze had settled on her .
    Miss Ashburn turned her head. “Mother awaits,
Ashburn.”
    The gentleman sighed. “True enough. Come
along, Margaret,” he called. He stopped though, before they left.
“I say, Cotwell, we’re having a party Friday—out in the gardens
along the river. You’ll remember how ridiculous my mother is about
her gardens? In any case, you must come! We’ll go over old times
and you’ll give me a reason to avoid the match-making mamas.” He
laughed. “Perhaps I’ll set them after you, and give myself a
respite.” He nodded toward the younger girls. “Mother even has a
fancy tea al fresco arranged for the young ones.”
    “Yes,” his sister sighed. “The event grows
less like a party and more like a village fair every year.”
    “Come along, do,” Ashburn urged, “and bring
Freddy’s girl.” He beamed down as Aurelia approached. “You’ll like
that, won’t you?”
    Aurelia bit her lip. “Yes, sir. Thank you,
sir.”
    “There! And Margaret will be in alt. It’s
settled.”
    “I’ve business to see to,” Lord Cotwell
interjected. He gave Lisbeth a look. “But Aurelia may go if she
wishes. Thank you for the invitation.” He bowed. “Miss
Ashburn.”
    She nodded. Lisbeth narrowed her eyes after
her as they departed.
    “You look quite ferocious, Miss Moreton.”
Lord Cotwell merely looked . . . inscrutable.
    “I feel quite ferocious, my lord.”
    “What will he eat?” Aurelia held her specimen
box aloft, her focus on the scrabbling reptile now that her friends
had all drifted away.
    “Insects.” The baron’s gaze never left
Lisbeth’s. “Why do you not fill his belly now, and then perhaps
he’ll be quiet enough for you to sketch at home.”
    Aurelia agreed and skipped off. And suddenly
it was Lord Cotwell who looked ferocious. His stare held Lisbeth’s.
Something gathered in the air and silence between them.
    “Come now, Miss Moreton. What’s stirred you
up?”
    His voice sounded different. Something lurked
beneath the usual rough texture. He took a step nearer and she was
unable to keep from taking one back—she needed to maintain her
distance if she was going to say all that needed said.
    She raised her chin. “I’m thinking of
contrasts, my lord. And lost opportunities.”
    His brow arched. “How interesting. I was
contemplating those very things myself.”
    “The difference between your manner with the
children and with that young woman was astounding. With the girls
you were natural and warm. Yet when you spoke with Miss Ashburn you
were stiff and foreboding.”
    He gave a derisive snort. “She looked at me
like