Love Lessons by Cheryl Holt

Author:Cheryl Holt
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Published: 2001-06-20T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

TWO

Abigail Weston paced across the floor of the parlor in the cozy house she had rented in order to meet clandestinely with James Stevens. It was Thursday afternoon, five minutes before the hour of two. Carriage wheels sounded on the street below, and she couldn’t prevent herself from rushing to the window to see if he had arrived.

He hadn’t.

The carriage lumbered past without stopping, and she couldn’t decide if she was relieved or disheartened.

“Five more minutes,” she murmured, glancing at the clock over the mantel, although she had already decided she would wait an extra hour before giving up on him completely.

Would he show?

Nervously, she examined the furnishings of the unpretentious residence. The room was neat and tidy, a refreshment tray set on the table in front of the sofa. A cheery fire crackled in the grate. He had been drinking spirits during their brief meeting at his office, so even though it was the middle of the afternoon, she’d added a bottle of brandy to the sideboard in case he wanted something stronger than tea.

Everything appeared to be ready for his arrival, but still, she wished she was in familiar surroundings rather than this unknown, slightly worn dwelling. The strange environment added to her discomfort, though it was too late to worry. The site she’d selected couldn’t be helped.

She’d had no choice but to pay for the temporary, covert location for their planned appointment. Before going to speak with him, she’d nearly driven herself mad trying to come up with a suitable solution in case he agreed to her demented scheme. Yet she could not think of a single site where the two of them could talk candidly.

In her sheltered, stilted world, a woman simply did not cross paths with men like Mr. Stevens. He was too unrestrained, too infamous, too scandalous a personage for a refined female to know. Therefore, she could hardly have asked someone to introduce them. They couldn’t have had a chance encounter on the street, in the park, or in one of the city’s more prominent establishments where the Quality liked to see and be seen. Word would have swiftly gotten back to her half-brother, Jerald, or—perish the thought!—his wife Margaret, and there would have been no end to the pandemonium any type of association with Mr. Stevens would create.

As Earl of Marbleton, Jerald was a stuffy, boorish man; his wife, righteous, vain, and self-centered. Their lives were ruled by propriety and social status, and neither of them would ever understand Abigail’s need to mingle with someone from the lower classes. If she was caught with Mr. Stevens, even in the most innocent of circumstances, there would be no excuse she could give for her behavior.

As the notorious bastard son of the Earl of Spencer, James Stevens was the most insulting, disreputable, and inappropriate type of person Jerald and Margaret could imagine. No matter what type of man he was on the inside, for them, his birth status said all.

But she was determined to

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