All I Want Read Free Page A

bare fingers could scald his. Or worse. Her cousin wasn’t the only witness to her familiar use of Owen’s given name, and he’d be damned if he ruined her on top of being a disappointment.
    He gripped the back of his chair. “If I leave now, I can have the cottage clear within a week.”
    Addington pealed with laughter. “What possessions can you possibly own that would need to be cleared out? That dilapidated shack is only fit to be razed to the ground.”
    “I’ll do no such thing!” Lady Matilda glared at him.
    Her cousin was, in all fairness, likely correct. Owen didn’t see his childhood home as a dilapidated shack because he’d remodeled every inch with his bare hands. To a marquess, however, the cottage would be nothing short of laughable. And to Lady Matilda—
    “ Ciao .” Addington wiggled his fingers at Owen. “Long walk ahead, since you haven’t any coin for a hack.”
    The crowd tittered.
    Owen bowed instead of replying, which he knew would rile Addington the most. The marquess was obviously trying to egg him into saying or doing something rash. But Owen had spent four dark years serving his country. Self-control was one of the first things he’d learned.  
    Not that it mattered overmuch. He’d never see Addington or Lady Matilda again. Instead, in another week’s time, he’d go back to battle. Just another soldier who no longer had any home or anyone to return to.
    He turned his gaze toward Lady Matilda one last time.  
    She glanced away.  
    He was not even to have eye contact, then. Very well. Owen stood straighter. He’d been foolish to think he could ever be worthy of her, for even a moment. Had he won instead of lost, had it been five million pounds instead of five thousand, it still wouldn’t have changed the essence of who and what they were. She was a lady. He was a bastard. They would never be equals.  
    She could never be his.

Chapter Three

    Lady Matilda didn’t wait until the weekend, nor for her cousin’s approval. She needed to speak to Owen before she lost the chance forever. Last time, he had not bothered to say goodbye before disappearing. This time, he would not be so lucky. She might not merit his love, but she certainly deserved an explanation.
    Before first light, she arranged for a carriage and tore out of London toward North Yorkshire. With luck, Cousin Egbert would be too involved in his gentlemanly pursuits to note her absence until at least the morrow. All the posting houses had known her family for years and would do what they could to speed her along, but their country home in Selby was still two and a half days’ journey.  
    When she arrived at Owen’s small cottage in the poorest section of town, she asked the driver to return in an hour’s time. Despite her being the daughter of a marquess—or perhaps because of it—he refused to leave. The carriage would remain out front, and that was final.  
    Matilda had no choice but to acquiesce.  
    Whether the driver feared for her life or her reputation, she couldn’t say. But Owen was only fearsome in battle, and as for her reputation… Well, she was unlikely to run into anyone of her social circle on a street such as this. And even should she find herself immortalized in gossip rags, there was no scandal powerful enough to undo the allure of marrying a young lady with a thirty thousand pound dowry.  
    She held no illusions about her appeal. Her name and her money were the only reason any eligible bachelor took an interest. Were it not for her fortune and bloodline, she would be just another plain-faced wallflower, with no friends save the ones she found in books. That was the way the world worked.  
    Owen was the only one who had ever treated her like something more than a title and a purse. All he saw in her was a friend. During every one of her nanny’s afternoon naps, Matilda had shot straight out the servants’ exit to the secret meeting place in the backwoods. Owen taught her to whistle and