Three Proposals and a Scandal by Anna Campbell

Author:Anna Campbell [Campbell, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

* * *

The foul weather persisted the next day. When Elias arrived early for breakfast, Jonas sat alone over a plate of sirloin and eggs. He grunted to his host and bypassed the steaming chafing dishes on the sideboard, heading straight for the coffee. When sleep had proven elusive, he’d sought refuge in the brandy bottle. Not enough to deaden physical or emotional frustration, damn it, but enough to give him a sour stomach this morning.

He was relieved that Jonas was his sole companion. Richard would expect some attempt at conversation and Elias was in no mood for Baildon or Tranter or Desborough. Jonas was usually disinclined to small talk. This morning, he seemed disinclined to any talk at all. Which suited Elias down to the muddy ground.

Elias brooded over his steaming coffee, sifting last night’s astonishing events, trying to decide what the devil he did now. Was his encounter with Marianne in the music room a beginning or an end? He had no bloody idea.

Marianne would probably sleep late. After she’d found her pleasure, he’d read the glorious peace in her eyes. In all his life, he’d never seen anything as beautiful as the woman he loved half-naked and finding joy at his hand.

Her shy wonder had made that passionate abandon all the more poignant. Poignant and arousing. No doubt she’d slept like an angel in heaven. He’d remained awake, hard, needy—and stewing over the fact that she was no more likely to marry him than she’d ever been.

For half an hour, the two men sat in silence. Jonas made his way through a pile of correspondence at his elbow. Elias stared moodily through the closed French doors to the tumbling rain and wondered whether he could bear to stay in England and watch Marianne become Lady Desborough.

Eventually Elias realized that his host had stopped reading his mail and was regarding him with the familiar sardonic gleam in his eyes. That scarred face was often described as inscrutable, but Elias knew Jonas well enough these days to catch mockery—and to resent it.

“What the deuce is your problem, Hillbrook?” he snarled.

A derisive smile tilted Jonas’s mouth, but his response surprised Elias. “I’ve got to check the flood levels and make sure any livestock we shifted to higher ground is safe. Want to come with me?”

Elias’s gaze returned to the sheeting rain outside. “It’s pouring cats and dogs.” He paused. “No, elephants and carthorses.”

His host’s attention didn’t waver. “Yes.”

“You expect me to brave the storm and mire and wind blowing straight down from the pole?”

“Interested?”

Elias glanced around the snug breakfast room with its blazing fire and dishes full of food he was yet to sample. Then he looked again at the quagmire outside. As if to emphasize the discomforts without, a gust of raindrops hit the glass so hard they sounded like stones.

He surged to his feet. “By God, yes, I am.”

* * *

With a groan, Elias collapsed beside Jonas who sat against the barn wall. It didn’t matter that the dark, musty space was almost as wet as outside.

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