Harlequin Historical April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Josh leaned back in the comfortable armchair, sipping the fine brandy and closing his eyes. It had been a tiring day, with the ride to complete their journey to Birling View in the morning and spending the rest of the day socialising. He still felt as though he were playing a part when amongst these people Leo called his peers, as if he were just pretending to be a gentleman.

‘You look pensive,’ Leo said, pulling at the cravat at his neck to loosen it. They were the only two still in the dimly lit library, the rest of the guests having retired to bed at various points in the evening. Josh had never needed much sleep, always late to bed and early to rise. He hated tossing and turning in the sheets and had found he only actually needed about five hours in bed to be fully rested. On his return to England he had found Leo was the same.

He’d been thinking about Beth, about all the moments he’d shared with her, but most particularly about the moment in the shed this afternoon when she’d stood in front of him in just her chemise and petticoats, her eyes rising up to meet his, and the feeling right in the centre of his chest—the feeling that he’d been hit by an arrow to the heart.

‘If Lord Abbingdon wasn’t making it a stipulation of his will, would you get married?’ He tried to make the question light, but saw the way Leo’s interest was piqued, the sharpness behind his eyes giving him away.

‘No,’ he said after some deliberation.

Josh nodded. It was what he thought. Despite their differences in personalities, their completely polar upbringings, he and Leo seemed to share the same view on many aspects of their lives.

‘Why not?’

‘What about you? Will you marry?’ Leo asked rather than giving an answer.

‘I doubt it.’ He thought of Beth’s warm smile, the way she moved, the way her body felt in his arms.

‘Why not?’

Josh began speaking, began giving the answer he always did when someone asked him why he wasn’t married, why he wasn’t searching for a wife, but then he paused. If he couldn’t tell the truth to his brother, then who could he ever be truthful with?

‘I always tell people that it is because my life is not compatible with marriage, that I couldn’t ask a woman to give up the comforts of home and join me in the foothills of India.’ He shook his head and took another sip of brandy. ‘Of course, that’s nonsense. Rose, my guardian’s wife, has led a very happy life in India and has never once regretted leaving England with her husband. And there are the women who already live there, of course, the daughters and sisters of other landowners.’

Leo watched him silently, giving him space to continue.

‘I think it was losing our parents at such a young age...’ He trailed off.

‘You don’t want to let anyone too close in case you lose them too.’

He

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