An Invitation to Seduction Read Free Page A

gowns.”
    “If I’m to have such a generous settlement, then it matters not whether he is a peer or a commoner.”
    “Of course, it matters. Why do you persist in arguing for your right to marry a commoner?”
    “I persist in arguing for my right to marry for love!”
    “Why upset yourself by debating falling in love with a commoner when it will not happen?”
    “Because it very well might have happened already.”
    She jumped up from her chair, nearly toppling it over, and rushed from the room. As a general rule, he was not slow-witted, yet he stared after her, unable to make any sense of her words or what exactly had transpired.
    “Well, that didn’t go well at all, did it?” his mother asked, pressing her napkin to each corner of her mouth.
    “Tell me she has not fallen in love with a commoner.”
    “To tell you that would be to lie to you, and to the best of my recollection, I have never lied to you.”
    Richard slumped back in his chair. He had an irrational urge to return to the shoreline, find the vixen he’d sighted that morning, grab her, and toss them both off a cliff into the sea. If he was going to drown, he didn’t wish to drown alone.
    “How could it have happened?” Richard asked, absolutely dumbfounded. “No gentleman has been calling.”
    “Perhaps courtship is not as complicated as you presume.”
    He snorted. “If she has spent no time in this man’s company, then she is no doubt only experiencing infatuation. Probably in love with the color of his eyes or some such unimportant drivel.” An image of red hair flashed before him, unsettling him. “Still, it might be best if youleave for London a bit sooner than you’d originally planned. Introduce her around—”
    “She’s been seen by everyone.”
    “Then she’ll be seen again. I shall make inquiries and find someone to take her mind off this person .” He shook his head. “I suppose I’ll need to be a bit more involved this year.”
    His mother’s face brightened. “And in so doing, perhaps you’ll find someone for yourself. I mean, if Farthingham is marrying, then surely it is time for you.”
    “As you said, Farthingham is in need of funds. I am not.”
    She sighed. “Like Anne, at one time I thought he might ask for her hand in marriage.”
    “Be grateful he did not. He would not have made Anne happy. I cannot imagine him making any woman happy. He would try. I’ll grant Farthingham that much. But I seriously doubt he would succeed.”
    “Perhaps you underestimate him.”
    “I think it most unlikely. But if he must marry, an American is probably an ideal solution for him. For her sake, I pray it is only his title she is after.”
    Because he knew Nicholas Glenville, the Marquess of Farthingham, better than most. Well enough to be trusted with his secret, a secret Richard knew would doom any marriage before vows were ever exchanged.

Chapter 2
    C rouched on a boulder near the top of the heap that storms and nature had delivered without care over the centuries, hidden by the night’s waning shadows, Richard waited in tense anticipation to see if the woman would show. He couldn’t explain his behavior. He’d never sighted her before yesterday and had no reason to believe she would miraculously reappear today.
    And yet here he was contemplating the possibility that perhaps she was at the shore on holiday. Or more likely, her employers were here on holiday—considering the plainness of her attire. He was unaccustomed to seeing anyone within this cove. His family had laid claim to it generations before, and the locals were well aware that trespassing was not allowed—another reason he’d deduced the woman must be a visitor in the area.
    The possibility also existed that she was demented, not right in her mind, wandering about without benefit of chaperone until she’d stumbled on him, obviously takingher fill of him. He wondered if she’d liked what she’d seen, then chastised himself for caring.
    As a general