Read Online Gamble on Engagement by Rachel Astor - Free Book Online Page A

“I imagine it’s quite good except
for Miranda, hey?” His eyes flickered to me in the mirror, feeling
me out. “She’s been nothing but a pain to me since I got here.”
    He smiled again. “I know the feeling Miss
McMaster.”
    “Please, call me Josie. I’m really not all
that comfortable with all that formal stuff. Unlike Miss Steeves,”
I said in the most hoity-toity voice I could muster.
    Reginald finally chuckled, nodding. “Sure
thing, Josie.” He glanced in the mirror again, as if he were still
feeling me out. “Yes, Miranda can be quite the piece of work,” he
said, finally. “She’s rather… high strung.”
    I chortled. “You could say that again. She
actually gave me heck for going to London.” I decided to leave the
bit about my going to Spain out of it. “I feel like a little kid
around her. She obviously has some kind of power trip issue.”
    “Absolutely. Although you should have seen
the issues before she got here. Not that I’m defending her, I can’t
stand that uppity witch.”
    I tried not to let the shock of hearing him
say uppity witch in his cute little English accent show, but I
don’t think I was that successful.
    “But she is organized. And that was a huge
improvement over the last couple girls who just took the job so
they could make googley-eyes at the Prince all day.”
    “Still, they had to have been better than
Miranda.”
    “In a lot of ways, yes. But at least the
Prince’s life is organized now. Having grown up fairly sheltered,
he is not the best at organization himself. And it would seem a
firm hand suits him. I believe his nanny was quite strict with him
when he was growing up and that’s what he seems to respond best
to.”
    It was all I could do not to go fishing in
my purse for a pen and paper, or better yet, a recorder.
    I nodded and hoped he would continue, but
the car fell into silence for the rest of the way while Reginald
must have been mulling over his words in silence, and I kept
repeating them over and over in my head so I wouldn’t forget. The
nanny was definitely someone I wanted to look into deeper.
    Back at Gatesbury, I was more than a little
relieved that Miranda did not appear to be around. I quickly
dropped my stuff in my room. Reginald had wanted to carry it for
me, but honestly, all the fuss was getting on my nerves a bit. I
mean, if I couldn’t carry a bag a few steps to my room, things were
seriously dire. I knew it was his job and all, but it was a little
insulting.
    I headed out back, grabbing my iTouch to
record my thoughts on the conversation I’d had with Reginald. It
was my first true gem and I felt like it might be the start of
something really great.
    I wandered around to find a quiet place to
sit and discovered a huge courtyard, complete with a hidden pool on
the south side of the house that I hadn’t even known was there. It
was like a tiny tropical oasis right there on the premises. I could
not believe no one had mentioned it to me. If I’d known it was
there, I might not have taken off so quickly to Spain.
    Although I really had wanted to see
Spain.
    I settled into a lounge chair and began
reciting my thoughts.
    But it didn’t take long for me to lay my
head back and fall into a bit of a catnap, what with the sun
beating down on me and the relaxing, trickling sounds of the
manmade waterfall, I didn’t have a chance.
    It was pure heaven.
    Until the rude awakening a way-too-short
while later.
    “Miss McMaster!” the sternest voice in the
world came crashing into my dream.
    My face squinched up at the sheer anger in
the voice, and I dreaded opening my eyes. But I knew I could not
avoid it forever.
    Although I really wished I had.
    Because there stood Miranda, which was bad
enough, but the real tragedy was that in her hands she held the
books I’d loaned from London, and worse, the tabloid featuring me
on the cover, which I distinctly remember putting in my bag for
safe keeping.

 
     
     
     
    ~ 7 ~
     
    “This is