The Wicked Viscount by Heather Mccollum

Author:Heather Mccollum [Mccollum, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-03T05:58:19+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“Lord Stanton wants to know where you stand on your responsibility toward his daughter, Lady Esther Stanton,” Edward Brooks asked as he stood behind Nathaniel in his room. Nathaniel met the man’s small, dark eyes, which had always reminded him of a rat’s. He’d been his father’s solicitor, helping him navigate all the legal matters within the Worthington family, for the last five years. He was young, energetic, and paid quite well by Hollings Estate, but Nathaniel didn’t know anything about the man who had scurried to follow his father’s every order.

“Master Brooks,” Nathaniel said, grabbing his wool jacket as he shoved his foot into the first of his tall leather boots. “Do you have a family? A wife? Children? Elderly parents?”

He’d asked Brooks to come up to his rooms after the man’s third request to see him that morning. Normally Nathaniel would have met him in one of the many small parlors about the palace for this business meeting, for that’s what this line of questioning amounted to—business. But if one of Stanton’s supporters found him, he’d have a devil of a time getting away. And he’d promised to take Cat to the Frost Fair.

“Uhhh…milord?”

Nathaniel thrust his other foot into his second boot, the buffed leather fitting perfectly. “You are always at the beck and call of the Worthington family. It seems you never venture home for long. Is there someone who waits for you?”

“No, milord,” he said, shaking his smallish head. “I am a bachelor.” He gave an odd smile, showing yellowish teeth that looked too small to belong to an adult. “Married to my profession it seems.”

Nathaniel grabbed a woolen cape, scarf, and hat. He gave Brooks a half grin. “Perfect, then you can wed Esther Stanton.”

The man’s dark eyes widened, his lips closing into a thin, tight line. “Lord Worthington, Lord Stanton needs an answer. Your father discussed the arrangement before he died. I was there to witness it. The late Viscount thought the match would be excellent, and that you would easily ascend to a seat in parliament when it is reinstated since Lord Stanton is the unofficial head of such office. Lady Stanton is a refined, young, beautiful lady. A perfect match.”

Perfect match? Nathaniel rubbed his mouth, remembering the feel of a perfect set of lips sliding against his in passion last night. The ache that he’d sated several times seemed to hover on the point of return whenever he thought of Cat, her wild auburn curls and pale skin freckled with dots, which he had traced from the tip of her forehead to the tip of her toes in the firelight before the hearth. But it was more than her physical beauty that drew him to her. It was her fierce need for freedom, her innate honesty and bravery, and her resilience that had her capturing his thoughts.

Nathaniel inhaled. “Although some view marriage as a business agreement, I find that I require more in a wife than beauty, youth, and refinement.”

“But your father—”

“Is dead.

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