Captivated by a Lady's Charm (Lords of Honor Book 2) by Christi Caldwell Page A

riding path.
    “Ah, that is unfortunate then, my friend.” Maxwell hooked his foot within the stirrup of his horse and swung his leg over the powerful creature’s back. “A lady looking at you with that adoration would be easier to pluck than a piece of low-hanging fruit.”
    “Shove off,” he mumbled and then nudged Valiant forward. The early morning ride taken by him and Maxwell each day since they’d returned from war, and when they found themselves in London was an effort on both their parts, he suspected to clear the horrors that were made all the more vivid in the nighttime hours. Oh, they never spoke on it, but Christian had little doubt. They’d lived the same hell. Fought it. Side by side. Their morning customs generally had the effect of clearing those dark thoughts. Yet, this time it had not been a frantic ride within the empty grounds of Hyde Park to drive back the demons, but rather drive away the white skirt-wearing young lady with her rather deplorable sketches and her candid thoughts.

Chapter 7
    Lesson Seven
    Whatever you do around your family and friends, do not give any indication you are secretly thinking about a roguish gentleman…
    P rudence shoved her fork around her plate. The noisy chatter of her siblings, mother, and sister-in-law echoed off the walls of the breakfast room. With such a chaotic gathering of family, it was deuced impossible to get a word in edgewise. The sometimes benefit , is that one could sit and mull one’s thoughts. Or, as best as one was able with the din of the bickering Poppy and Penelope. Her family’s preoccupation with anything but her allowed her to contemplate the Marquess of St. Cyr.
    Christian.
    … If we are to speak on intimate matters, at the very least you can refer to me by my Christian name.
    An odd fluttering sensation filled her belly. The moment he had defied the whispers and gossip about her and her family to partner her in the most intimate of dances, she’d been hopelessly captivated. Then there was his bold, blatant dismissal of the gossip when she’d scandalously mentioned it to him earlier that morning. In a world where Prudence had long grown accustomed to cut directs and the uncertainty of honorable intentions from worthy gentlemen, Christian had demonstrated first in his actions in Lady Drake’s ballroom, then in his words at Hyde Park, that he was a man very different than the others.
    She propped her chin on her hands and stared at the uneaten contents upon her plate of eggs and buttered bread. The rub of it was, Christian did not believe in love. Or romance. Or even hope.
    This was dreadful, indeed. A gentleman who’d defied the whispers and gossip, and yet was so hopelessly unromantic.
    Why, what manner of rogue was he? She wrinkled her nose. Not that she wanted him to be a rogue, per se. She rather detested the idea of him flirting with and smiling that half-grin which made her heart flutter on some other young woman. Or old matron. Anyone, really that was not her. But still, the scandal sheets indicated he was one of those sought-after gentlemen who was so at odds with the serious gentleman who spoke in such bleak terms.
    “Why are you so quiet, Pru?”
    Her brother’s booming question brought her head up. And of course, the heads of every other member of the Tidemore clan present. Her family fell silent and stared at Prudence.
    Alas, she could always rely upon Poppy for a necessary distraction. “Bah, Prudence is never quiet.”
    Her brother glowered and opened his mouth to say something.
    “Jonathan,” his wife said quietly. Juliet shifted the two-year-old babe on her lap and, over the tiny girl’s red curls, gave him a long look.
    The tense frown on Sin’s lips lifted as he turned a gentle smile on his wife and daughter. And sitting there, with his whispered words to Juliet and Rose lost to the length of the table, a potent longing slammed into her to know the joy and beauty of her own family. Sin looked to the nursemaid,