Her Scandalous Marriage by Leslie Lafoy

Author:Leslie Lafoy [Lafoy, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical
ISBN: 0312347707
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2006-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

OF COURSE, HE HAD TO ADMIT AS HE SWIVELED ON THE stool to move his legs out of a maid’s way, his life would be a lot better if he’d quit making stupid decisions. The one to back up his dinner threat with action wasn’t turning out to be one of his better ones. He didn’t know a damn thing about drapery construction and the process of sewing looked only slightly less tedious than it did masochistic. The combination of the two realities meant that he was of no use to anyone in terms of assistance—and didn’t want to be.

Staying out of the way, though . . . Well, he and Haywood were doing their best. The workroom was a sizable one, but with a huge central table having been erected in the center of it and the fifteen, maybe twenty women—it was impossible to get an accurate count—dashing around, it wasn’t big enough to be truly out of their way for any longer than a few minutes at a time.

He and Haywood were, however, clearly out of the collective female mind. For the most part. Until a piece of fabric required toting or opening for an examination of some sort and then the square meter of floor space he and Haywood had staked as their own was claimed with a sharp look and not-so-softly cleared throat.

Haywood leaned close. “Have you ever seen anything like this?” he asked quietly.

“No. You?”

“I’m not sure my mother even knows how to sew clothing, much less drapes. My sisters . . . pffft .” He shook his head. “But even if they did know how to do it, it would never occur to any of them to actually work with the servants.”

Drayton smiled and watched as Caroline pinned a sheet of vellum to the blue damask laid out on the table. “She is interesting, isn’t she?”

“Well, if you’re hoping to find a wife like her, you’re going to be looking a long, long time.”

“Maybe I’ll save myself the time and effort and marry her.”

Haywood snorted softly. “You might want to think on that a bit. I mean, once she has the house redecorated . . . ”

Drayton looked at him sidelong. “Are you really that shallow?”

“I just think a trip to the altar should be undertaken only at gunpoint.”

Shaking his head, he went back to watching Caroline work. “Your parents must have a horrible marriage to have twisted you so badly.”

“Actually, they have a very good marriage,” Haywood countered, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and resume his survey of female forms. “Never a ripple of discord and all that. Mother goes her way, Father goes his, and from time to time they meet to ask each other if they happen to remember the name of the last child, the one who was in the artillery corps last year.”

“They remember your name,” Drayton assured him. “Your mother sends you a gift for your birthday every March. Last year it was book of short stories.

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