Duel of Hearts Read Free Page A

chestnut.”
    â€œPerhaps you should try Almack’s. I have heard—”
    â€œThank you, but at least the Marchbankses offered a creditable supper at their little affair. Almack’s, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing but stale cakes and weak lemonade to recommend it.”
    â€œWell, you will have to do something if you are to come about,” she reasoned. “Don’t suppose you have thought to go to Bath to look over the heiresses?”
    â€œI have no desire for a provincial bride.”
    â€œAll right,” she conceded. “I wash my hands of the matter. But if you should ever happen to discover the chit you’d have, I hope you have sense enough to come up to scratch. And ’tis hoped also that she has money.”
    He set his glass down and reached across to cover her bony fingers with his own. “Do not worry about me, Aunt Hester. I promise you that I am not without resources. And if I ever discover a female who does not bore me beyond belief within a fortnight, I will wed her.”
    She looked down at his strong, warm hand before answering. “I hope I live long enough to meet her, Tony.”

Chapter 3
3
    H aving delivered her still-irate abigail to the solicitous ministrations of Mrs. Crome, the Coles’ elderly housekeeper, Leah Cole was in the process of stripping her kid gloves from her hands while still in the wide marble-floored foyer when she noted the door ajar to her father’s study. A quick glance at the ornate clock on the mantel of the entry fireplace revealed it to be but a few minutes past three o’clock, a highly suspect time for Jeptha Cole to be at home. But then he’d been a trifle pulled lately, something he chose to deny vehemently when taxed with it. He worked hard to earn her bread, he’d retorted, and was therefore entitled to be tired on occasion. She knew instinctively he was hiding something beneath that gruff exterior he affected, and it worried her.
    â€œPapa?” she inquired tentatively as she pushed the door wider. “Is anything amiss?”
    â€œHere now,” he growled from the depths of his large leather chair, “can a man not take his ease one afternoon without having to answer for it? Damme, Leah, but if you think to coddle me, you are wide of the mark, girl!” His expression softened almost immediately even if his voice did not. “Do not be standing there with that injured look—it won’t fadge, for one thing—and come tell your papa what you have been doing.” As she moved forward, he patted a chair beside him, nodding. “That’s the ticket, my love.”
    â€œDo not be thinking to fob me off by changing the subject, Papa,” she murmured, leaning to plant a kiss on his balding head. “My day is like any other, unlike yours, for you are so seldom at home before ’tis dark.”
    â€œCannot a man come home to see his dearest treasure?” he demanded.
    â€œSince you are known to terrorize every female in this house but me, Papa, I collect you are attempting to turn me up sweet. It will not happen, you know,” she added with a wry twist to her mouth. “I have not forgotten that just this morning I was the bane of your life.”
    â€œNever said it.”
    â€œYou did. And if you will not send for Dr. Fournier, I shall.”
    â€œDamned Frenchie!” he snorted.
    â€œWell, he did improve your gout,” she reminded him.
    â€œAnd starved me to death to do it! No mutton or pork or beef, he says! Humph! A man cannot live on birds, I tell you, Leah,” he muttered with feeling. “And he took away my port.”
    â€œNot entirely, Papa.”
    â€œOne glass—only this full.” Indicating less than two inches with his thumb and forefinger, he shook his head. “Scarce enough to wet m’ throat, and not enough to bother with.”
    â€œFiddle. Do not think I do not know you have been cheating on