Be My Bride Read Free Page B

pinched him under cover of the tea tray. “I . . . I’m not sure who you mean, John.”
    Daniel smiled at the boy’s attempt to tell the truth and still support his brother.
    “You remember Colonel Hathaway,” John insisted. “Mother’s beau?”
    Daniel found he had little interest in hearing about Cynthia’s latest conquest, and he cleared his throat in a warning to change the subject.
    “Mother has a bunch of bows,” Adam piped up.
    “That’s right, Adam,” John encouraged, casting a sidelong look at Daniel but ignoring the obvious hint. “And her favorite is the Colonel.”
    Adam frowned, but John pushed another cake onto his plate, and he turned his attention to attacking it eagerly.
    Probably another charming military man, Daniel thought, but the bitterness of the thought surprised him.
    “In fact,” John declared boldly, “Colonel Hathaway is probably going to be our new father.”
    The last bite of cake was suddenly hard for Daniel to chew. James choked on his own piece. Adam’s blue eyes widened.
    “He is,” John insisted, somewhat belligerently, Daniel thought. “I heard Uncle Jonathan say Mother had to marry. He doesn’t have the blunt to keep us all, isn’t that so, Mr. Daniel?”
    “I’m sure your uncle can care for you as long as needed,” Daniel assured him, although he knew how strapped Jonathan must be with four extra mouths to feed. The smaller Kinsle estate had never been prosperous, and what little had been left Jonathan had poured into his library on inheriting. He had hardly expected that his sister, who hadn’t been home in nearly ten years, to suddenly appear with three nephews he hadn’t known he possessed.
    “I don’t recall whether I like Colonel Hathaway,” James remarked thoughtfully.
    “Oh, he’s all right,” John said with a shrug. “I daresay he’ll be gone as much as Father was. And even when he is in the country, he’ll be out at his club. We won’t see him much.”
    “Mother won’t like that,” Adam said with a pout.
    “Mother doesn’t have a choice,” John informed him. “She has to marry whoever asks her. Uncle Jonathan said so.”
    The conversation was definitely unsuitable for young gentleman, and Daniel wasn’t entirely sure it was suitable for his own hearing. But he wasn’t their father, and the best he could do was rattle the dishes on the tea tray to focus their attentions elsewhere.
    “Poor Mother,” James said with a sigh, ignoring him.
    “Poor us,” John amended. “Father may not have been home much, but at least he loved us. We won’t be so lucky this time.”
    Adam’s bottom lip trembled, but he sucked it in manfully as he slid down from the leather chair to the Aubusson carpet. “Colonel Hathaway might love us.” When John scowled at him, he stuck out his chin. “He might! We’re lovable, aren’t we, Mr. Daniel?”
    Something constricted in the vicinity of Daniel’s heart. “You are indeed, my lad, all three of you.”
    “If you were our father I daresay you wouldn’t leave us for some silly club,” James asserted with a sniff.
    “All fathers need time to themselves,” Daniel tried to explain to them. “But I’m sure whoever is lucky enough to be your new father will want to spend time with you.”
    Adam had wandered closer to him and now climbed happily into his lap. “Why can’t you be our father, Mr. Daniel?”
    He should have seen it coming. The spark in John’s eyes told him the conversation had been manipulated in just this direction. James and Adam were waiting eagerly for his answer. He’d have to pick his words carefully if he were to keep from depressing them further.
    “Any man would be proud to be the father of three such fine, smart, boys,” he assured them.
    It was obviously not enough. Adam frowned. “Then why don’t you ask Mother?”
    Daniel kept a determined smile on his face. “Well, your mother and I have known each other since we were children, Adam, but we’ve never been