Barbara Pierce by Naughty by Nature Page A

The house in which her mother and twin sister had perished had been sold off shortly after the fire. With the painful memories of his loss too fresh for comfort, Ramscar had purchased another house for him and his sister. Meredith had been too ill during those early months to appreciate his considerate gesture. Regardless, when the coach had halted in front of the house, the poor woman had been overcome with emotion.

    Patience disembarked from the coach and held out her hand. “Meredith, you have nothing to fear. It is simply a house. Are you not curious to see where your brother lives?” Patience certainly was interested in exploring the town house.
    Meredith placed her hands over her face. “Oh, you must think I am the biggest ninny to be fussing so.”
    “Oh pish! This is a homecoming of sorts, and what lady does not get a little emotional during these moments?” Patience said, feeling terrible there was nothing comforting she could utter that would ease Meredith’s misery.
    Ramscar marched toward them looking displeased. “Meredith, why are you still sitting in the coach? I want to introduce you to the servants and show you the house.”
    His sister placed her hand to her throat. “Something is terribly wrong, Ram. My limbs are frozen. And—and my lungs cannot seem to fill with air. I think you should summon a physician.”
    Patience met Ramscar’s stern gaze and shrugged. They had gotten this far without Meredith succumbing to hysterics or a tantrum. A little fretting was expected during a very delicate and emotional situation. Her brother, above all, should understand.
    When Ramscar moved closer, Patience stepped aside. Meredith was fortunate to have him as a
brother. Patience had two younger brothers, Penn and Rawley. They had been away at school when she had run off. She wondered if they ever thought about her.
    An abrupt screech from within the coach startled Patience from her wistful musings. She rushed forward, but Ramscar had control of the situation. Instead of coaxing his sister from the coach as Patience had expected, the brute had dragged his mulish sibling out of the compartment and tossed her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of onions.
    “Put me down!” Meredith screamed as she pounded on her brother’s back. Oh, she was in a fine fury.
    Aghast by the earl’s actions, Patience was uncertain what to do. “Ramscar? My lord, it is unseemly to carry your sister like she is—”
    “A mouthy bit of goods?” he snapped at Patience. “I’ll not have another word from you, Miss Winlow. I am perfectly capable of handling my sister.” With an unwieldy burden, he marched up the steps into the town house. All Patience could do was follow them.
    In front of the astonished servants, he bent down and released his sister.
    “Welcome to London, Sister!” The idiotic man sounded rather pleased with himself.
    Patience closed her eyes to briefly blot out the
awkward predicament Ramscar had created for his sister.
    Completely mortified by the unwarranted attention, Meredith promptly burst into tears.
     
     
    “Ramscar! About time you find your way back to town,” Townsend Lidsaw, Viscount Everod, said, rising from a chair and giving him a swift affectionate hug followed by a wicked jab at his shoulder.
    Ramscar grunted in reaction, but overall, he was pleased to come across one of his friends. He had decided for his first evening out to visit one of the popular gambling hells in town, called Moiria’s Lust. Xavier, the proprietor, was temperamental about who sat at his tables, but he ran a fair establishment. Ramscar was not surprised to find his friend frequenting the hell instead of one of the fashionable gentlemen’s clubs.
    Lord Everod, known simply as Everod by his friends, was one of the more notorious of les sauvages nobles. The same age as Ram, his friend had earned the fitting nickname of Ever hard from several witty ladies of the ton who had shared his bed, albeit briefly. At six feet,