Housemaid Heiress by Elizabeth Beacon

Author:Elizabeth Beacon
Language: ron
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘I can’t believe we actually did it,’ she murmured once they were alone in the hired coach.

‘I don’t want to go through the last six weeks again, so I sincerely hope we did,’ her newly made lord replied with the wry smile that always threatened to turn her treacherous bones to jelly.

‘No, everyone has been rendered acutely uncomfortable.’

‘Nonsense, they had a rare old time.’

‘Your lawyer looked like an offended bishop at a bacchanal when he set off for Devon.’

‘Clatmore enjoyed himself even more than Ned and Lyddie did running rings around your so-called guardian, while I rode off to London as if the devil was on my tail. Confounding another lawyer, threatening suits for this and caveats to that. Clatmore hasn’t had so much fun since his schooldays.’

‘I still can’t believe we’re husband and wife.’

‘Would you rather not?’ he asked rather coolly and Thea wondered if she had hurt her invincible new husband.

‘Of course not,’ she said impulsively, then gave an inward groan as his eyes began to resemble the steely sky of a January day. ‘I mean, of course I wanted to wed you.’

‘Given the alternative.’

No, she nearly assured him impulsively, out of all the alternatives. Luckily she managed to put a curb on her unruly tongue just in time. ‘Well, you’re a decided improvement on Granby,’ she teased and watched the thaw set in with relief.

‘I can’t tell you how much better that makes me feel.’

‘I dare say I can’t. You don’t think he can do anything about it, do you?’

‘You are of age and wed me of your own free will, so what can he do?’

‘I don’t know, but I doubt they will give up. You knew they would come today, didn’t you, Marcus?’ she asked coolly.

‘Having learnt from Wellington that a wise general chooses his ground for a battle, I left enough clues to lead even an idiot like Winforde to us,’ he agreed, and Thea wasn’t sure if she was more awed by his cool nerve or furious at the risks he had taken.

‘Granby might be an idiot, but his mother is no fool.’

‘Maybe not, but she’s nowhere near as clever as she thinks.’

‘She will do whatever she can to ruin me.’

‘And you cannot trust me to stop her?’

‘Not when you fight fair, my lord.’

‘You underestimate me, my dear.’

She would not turn and stare up at him like a besotted bride, or tell him he was her hero. Theirs was not that kind of relationship and there were lines she could not cross.

‘Anyway, Granby might marry another heiress and forget me,’ she rattled on brightly. ‘Lady Winforde couldn’t intimidate your Miss Rashton, and she does want a title.’

‘I would never wish that on her, although I thank my stars hourly she is not my Miss Rashton.’

‘Something I shall remind you of whenever we are at outs, my lord.’

‘Yet the benefits of this alliance seem to be all on my side, the debits on yours,’ Marcus said with a seriousness she had to deplore.

Marriage had put

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.