Eloisa James - Essex Sisters - 1 by Much Ado About You

Author:Much Ado About You [You, Much Ado About]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-16T17:27:24.780000+00:00

"But I don't think we are unsuited," Maitland said, sounding profoundly uninterested. "I'm sure we'll rub along fine together. You have your—your Shakespeare and the like, and I have my pursuits. There's no doubt I would prefer a little less poetry, especially during meals. It puts me off my beef, but I don't mind it in other places."

"We will not be happy together. I shall not be happy."

There was a silence while Maitland digested her statement. "If you feel that way, you'd better call it off,"

he said, without a shadow of remorse in his voice.

"I can't," she snapped. "You know as well as I do that your mother is holding the papers to my father's estate."

"As far as that goes, my mother has made it quite clear that she'll cut off the funding to my stables if I throw you over. So I'm afraid, m'dear, that we're destined for the altar."

"But Lord Maitland—"

"There's no point in further discussing it," he said, interrupting her without ceremony. "I've no particular aversion to marrying you—told my mama so when she picked you out. And you agreed to do the pretty as well. So we might as well go through with it, because things will be unpleasant if we don't."

"Haven't you any sensibility?" she gasped.

"None," he said without hesitation.

"You would be a great deal happier with Imogen Essex.

She shares your interest in horses. And more importantly—she/eves you!"

"I've noticed that." A thread of pride crept into Mait-land's tone. "But she'll have to rind someone else."

"Won't you mind dreadfully?"

Another silence, then: "Not particularly." Tess wished Imogen were in the room. There was something profoundly convincing about Lord Maitland's answer. He truly wouldn't mind if Imogen married another man.

"Miss Imogen has a horse for a dowry," Miss Pythian-Adams noted, trying another avenue. "I gather the animal in question is quite famous. I'm sure he would be a notable addition to your stables."

"Enough," Lord Maitland said. "My mama has her heart set on my marrying you. And while Imogen is beautiful enough, she'd make an uncomfortable wife. I can only take that sort of emotion in very short doses. I expect you and I will suit each other well enough. Imogen would expect an entirely different level of devotion on my part."

Lucius's fingers touched Tess's lips just as she was about to explode from the recessed window.

But Miss Pythian-Adams had not given up. "I'm amazed you aren't ashamed to be so tied to your mother's apron strings," she said, her voice generously lashing on scorn. "And what pleasure I have to look forward to in my married life! Why, I always meant to marry a milksop man, driven hither and thither by his mama's hold on the purse strings. I assure you, it has long been my deepest desire!"

"Well, if you ain't a tallow-faced witch," Maitland observed, sounding (for the first time) a bit nettled.

"Precisely," Miss Pythian-Adams returned coldly. "I expect it will do my temper no end of good to be married to a man as shallow and easily driven as yourself.

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