All Things Beautiful Read Free Page A

to the brink of blackest despair and ridicule. She threw aside every opportunity to do her duty and make a decent marriage by running off with that horse soldier!”
    “He was a hussar,” Lady Markham reminded him.
    “Hell and damnation, she couldn’t even kill herself properly and save us the disgrace of having her presence in our midst. And this puppy, whom Wolf sent, is trying to talk her out of it!”
    Julia cut the air sharply with her hand, commanding the attention of her parents. “It makes no difference. I have made up my mind.” She turned to Peter. “Is Brader Wolf very rich, Peter?”
    Her directness floored him. Peter stumbled for words. “Well, I don’t know his exact assets….”
    “Poor Peter. I’m aware we Markhams have always shocked you with our havey-cavey ways. Bad ton, ” she added softly. “But never mind. I have made up my mind.” She studied each of them, looking regal in the thin afternoon light streaming through the windows. “Brader Wolf. It’s an unusual name. Almost sinister.” She flashed Peter one of her famous smiles. “I accept him. When do we marry?”
     
    Ignoring the groom and butler trying to stop him, Peter threw himself in the path of Wolf’s horse, his hand grabbing under the bit rein. The bay snorted and stamped impatiently, hooves scraping the wet cobblestones in the courtyard of Foulkes Hall, Brader Wolf’s London residence. It was an expensive animal, Arabian stock and over seventeen hands high. The best money could buy.
    “Carberry, have you lost your senses? Unhand my horse and step back,” Wolf commanded.
    “No one tells a Carberry he doesn’t have time to see him.”
    Wolf reined in his horse, pulling too hard on the bit, another sin Peter chalked up against him. “How drunk are you, Carberry?” he asked, his voice silky and hard.
    “Not drunk enough.” Peter’s words came out in angry puffs of frigid air. “I thought you wanted to know whether or not your friends can wish you happy.”
    “I have no friends. You yourself informed me of that fact.” Brader Wolf laughed at him. “But since you have risked life and limb to give me the news, let me have it now. Speak up, man. I am late for an important meeting.”
    Peter hated him. “I thought all business came to you and not the other way around. How surprised I am that you actually stoop to do your own dirty work.”
    The butler and groom gasped at Peter’s insult, but Wolf’s eyes danced with amusement. “Why should I, my lord, when I have such a handy assistant as yourself to help?”
    “She said yes,” Peter hissed. “May God strike me down, but she agreed to your devil’s bargain.”
    “Of course.”
    “You knew she would?”
    “Markham would sell his own wife for the funds to maintain his lifestyle. His daughter is worth nothing to him.”
    “What do you want with Kimberwood? Whatcan it do for you that your money cannot accomplish somewhere else?”
    Wolf’s dark eyes hardened. “That is my affair, my lord. Our business is finished. My secretary, Hardwell, will turn over to you those bills I hold against you. We are acquitted. Give my respects to your foolish and very extravagant wife.” He pulled hard on the bit, causing the horse to rise while it turned, effectively forcing Peter to step aside.
    “You be good to her,” Peter commanded. “Julia Markham’s worth a dozen of you. You treat her right, or—”
    “Or you’ll what?” Wolf’s deep baritone questioned. He leaned over in the saddle. “Pray excuse me, my lord, but if my information is correct, wasn’t it you that set the wager that ruined her?” His voice dropped lower. “How much money did you make on the soul of Julia Markham?”
    He sat back upright, lifting the reins.
    “I can do naught worse to her than you have already done yourself. In fact, my offer of marriage to Julia Markham is more generosity than you and your kind have shown her over the past three years of her life. Now, out of my way, my