Love In The Wager (Women 0f Worth Book 4) by Kasey Stockton

Author:Kasey Stockton [Stockton, Kasey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Women's Fiction, Victorian Era, 19th Century, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Love Possibility, Hearts Desire, Clean & Wholesome, Christian Stories, Inspirational Reads, Love Inspired, Life-Changes, Second Chance Reunion, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Lifetime Love, Romantic Schemes, Love-Family & Forever, Action & Adventure, Women 0f Worth Series, Beautiful & Feisty
Publisher: Kasey Stockton
Published: 2019-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

21

Lydia

Rain pelted the earth for four straight days, causing a large pool of water to form before the front windows of Thornville and causing an unrivaled crankiness to develop within Edward. He paced the windows in the drawing room, looking through the drapes and then swinging them closed again.

Groaning, he crossed the room and sat hard on the sofa, causing a loud creak to rent the air.

Edward paused, looking to where I sat at the writing desk. We watched each other in silence, waiting to see if the sofa would crash to the floor. Nothing occurred, and Edward leaned back, covering his eyes with his forearm.

“I cannot remain indoors any longer,” he said. Again. He had said as much five minutes before. And then another twenty minutes before that. The man was positively restless, and his anxiety was causing me a measure of my own.

“Shall I request the card table be brought in?” I asked.

He moaned again, the sound muffled from underneath his arm. “You do not realize how deeply I am tempted to say yes right now.”

I had not expected that. I set my pen down, turning on my chair to better see him. “Whatever do you mean?”

He removed his arm from his forehead, sitting up on the sofa and shooting serious eyes at me. “I made myself a promise that I would never again touch playing cards.”

I could not help the surprise that fell over my features, drooping my mouth open. “Not even whist? Or speculation?”

He shook his head. “I cannot. If I allow myself any room for exceptions, however slight, then I could very well succumb to the larger captivation of gambling.”

Oh. He was a gambler. That did not surprise me, for he had played on occasion with my father. But I had not realized the extent of his burden.

“But you’ve played with my father,” I said. “Was this a recent decision?”

He watched me carefully, opening his mouth to speak before glancing away, and closing his mouth once more. I allowed him time to gather his thoughts and nearly turned back to the letter I was drafting to Mrs. Coulter when he finally said, “It is recent, yes. Just before we wed, in fact. I realized my weaknesses and I determined that if I was to retain Thornville and cultivate something to pass on to the next generation of Thorntons, then I would need to curb my expenses.”

Given the extent of the wear in both his London townhouse and Thornville, it was clear that Edward did not have funds. My dowry could not have been much, I assumed, but as father had always been rather tight-fisted with his money, he had never told me precisely what it was.

It must have been enough to make Edward feel as though he was receiving a second chance, however, if I was understanding him now.

I turned back to my letter to fully contemplate the information. I had never been under any sort of illusion that Edward loved me, but I did not understand at all why he had offered for me, and I hadn’t tried to before.

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