Holiday House Parties Read Free Page B

heel and walk out without another word, but he couldn’t, in good conscience, take his leave yet. He estimated that not more than ten minutes had elapsed since this conversation began. He owed Archie five more minutes. That was the bargain. He had to try again. “Then ye have no kind word I can bring to the poor lad?” he asked with all the sincerity he could muster. “Ye offer him no hope at all?”
    â€œNone at all.” She waved her hand dismissively at him. “Goodbye, Lord Dunvegan.”
    â€œI don’t understand ye,” he said, holding his ground. “Surely ye took him in the first place because ye recognized his fine qualities—his loyalty, his faithfulness, his generosity, his easygoing nature. What could have happened in a mere sennicht—a mere week—to cause ye to change yer mind?”
    Something in his tone must have made her capitulate a little, for she lowered her eyes and sighed. “If you must know, my lord, I broke our troth because I realized I’d been hasty in accepting him. Yes, Archie is all you say he is. But I discovered, to my dismay, that he is a member of the Corinthian set, to which you, too, appear to belong. I do not approve of that set, I’m afraid.”
    â€œOh? And why not, Miss Woolcott?”
    â€œBecause, among other disturbing things, they gamble.”
    â€œGamble, ma’am? Is that so sinful?”
    â€œI find it so. When I discovered Archie’s gambling, I felt strong misgivings about him.”
    â€œBut, ma’am, I and all the men I know, Corinthians or not, play at cards or roll the dice now and then.”
    â€œI don’t doubt it.” She eyed him with utter disdain. “It doesn’t surprise me a bit to learn that Archie’s friends are worse than he.”
    â€œIf you mean me, ma’am, I’ll not deny it. Archie is a saint compared to me.”
    â€œI’m quite inclined to believe you. But your sins, my lord, are not my concern. Nor do they lessen my misgivings about Archie’s.”
    Geordie eyed her curiously. “Is that why ye jilted him? Because he gambles?”
    â€œNot that alone. I think Archie is typical of all your set. You are all gamblers, lechers, and wastrels. Not one of you is capable of holding a serious thought in his head.”
    â€œYe malign us, ma’am. We may not be able to translate the Antigone —”
    â€œ Translate it?” She gave a scornful laugh. “You can’t even read it!”
    Geordie felt a stab of revulsion. Who was this creature to decide she was superior to half the world? If there was anything the Scotsman could not abide it was a girl who gave herself airs. Why, it was entirely possible that Miss Caroline Woolcott was a bluestocking! “There’s many a good man who canna read Greek,” he pointed out mildly, trying not to show his disgust.
    â€œAnd many a loose fish, too,” she retorted.
    â€œYe might find, Miss Woolcott, that there’s many a loose fish who can read Greek. I’d be careful of that sort, if I were ye.”
    She looked at him coldly. “I really don’t think I need your advice on that head, my lord.”
    He ran his fingers through his curls in a gesture of defeat. “It seems I’ve been wastin’ my time and yours, ma’am, if readin’ Sophocles is what ye require in a husband.”
    â€œFortunately, I do not need your approval of my requirements.” She gestured imperiously toward the door. “Good evening, Lord Dunvegan.”
    He shrugged and took the two strides necessary to bring him to the doorway. But there he paused and looked back at her. “I wish ye luck in findin’ a suitor good enough for ye, Miss Woolcott,” he said with a brusque little bow, “though I dinna ken one man in all London who’d fill the bill. Good evenin’, ma’am.”
    Back at Geordie’s house on Henrietta Street, Archie