Free Rules for a Lady (A Lady's Lessons, Book 1) by Jade Lee Page B

This small woman climbed barefoot out of windows, punched villains twice her size, was nearly choked to death, and yet she acted as if it were all perfectly normal. Was she a lunatic or merely so lacking in sensibilities as to be a threat to herself and everyone around her?
    Or both?
    She finished sanding the page and sat back in her chair. "May I go to bed now?"
    "Amanda, you were nearly killed tonight! Have you no sense of what could have happened to you?"
    She lifted her chin, her eyes steady as they met his gaze. "I could not leave Tom to fend for himself against that man. Calling for help would only have alerted the brute and delayed me."
    "So you climbed barefoot down a trellis—"
    "Why do you keep harping about my feet?" She waved her hands in agitation. "It was the safest way to reach the ground. True, I should have brought something to hit the man with, but I had no idea he was so large."
    "Amanda, you had no idea at all. You endangered yourself and Tom without the least chance of success. If I had not heard you climbing down the trellis, you would have been killed or worse." He reached for his brandy, not wanting to think about what would have been worse. Then he discovered his glass empty, and he set about refilling it. Only after he took another few gulps did he chance to look up and see Amanda staring at him with naked shock on her face.
    "What?"
    "You really are upset."
    "Of course I am upset!" he bellowed.
    "But why? Because I climbed down the trellis? Because I was barefoot? Or because I defended a street orphan from a bully?"
    He set down his glass with a click and crossed to stand directly in front of her. "It is because you could have been killed. My God, woman, have you no fear of dying? Of being hurt or sold into slavery?"
    She rose slowly from her seat, and he watched her every movement from the slight tilt of her head to the gentle press of her fingertips on his forearm. "My lord. Stephen. I have seen many people die in my life. They have died suddenly or slowly, some in accidents, others eaten up bit by bit from drink or disease or plain bitterness."
    "What has that to do with—"
    "I have told you before, I wished myself dead a thousand times. Death holds no terror for me. What terrifies me is living without meaning or purpose."
    He stared at her, seeing the earnestness in her expression, the conviction in her voice, and could think of nothing to say. She seemed much too mature for a girl of twenty-one.
    "I am tired, my lord." She sketched a brief curtsy. "Good night."
    And with that, she slipped out of the room, abandoning her list of rules to him.

 
     
     
    Chapter 5
    Rule #6:
    A lady does not pick locks.

     
    Gillian peered around the hall door, then ducked back as she saw Greely, the earl's starched butler, standing guard by the front door. Oh, this is foolish beyond measure! She scolded herself. She had never in her life been willfully stupid, but here she was, lurking in a back parlor waiting to break into the earl's library.
    Stupid, stupid, stupid.
    And if she were caught, who knew how many more rules he would add to her list of ladylike behavior? He had added another four in the last week alone and continued to post the sheet beside her bed no matter how many times she ripped the silly thing down.
    It had been horrible these last few days. Between interminable fittings, shopping for stiff undergarments, not to mention tea lessons, dancing lessons, and deportment lessons, she was hard put to catch her breath, much less disappear for some solitude. She'd never realized how much she enjoyed her dawn walks along the harsh Yorkshire moors until she came to London and such moments seemed an impossible dream.
    So what did she do when she finally found a scant few minutes of peace? Was she upstairs, stretched upon her bed with her eyes closed as she imagined the scent of heather and sweet moss beneath her feet? Was she slipping out of her tight new undergarments or pretending to study her French