If Wishes Were Earls Read Free Page A

but on the opposite side, so the wide breadth separated them.
    How she longed to cut it down, to make it so that nothing could keep them apart.
    “There are no secrets in the ton ,” he added.
    Well, she didn’t care if the entire population of England, Ireland and Scotland knew. It wasn’t like she was an heiress with prospects, or anyone else was going to come along and claim her.
    But the real question was, would he?
    “Roxley?”
    “Yes, Harry?”
    She pressed her lips together every time he called her that. Did he have to use that horrid name? But taking a deep breath, she dove in. “What do you see when you look at me?”
    “Not much,” he said. “If you haven’t noticed it is rather dark out here.”
    She rolled around the tree, her fingers tracing over the rough bark as if seeking a clear path, until she was right beside him. “Oh, do stop being him . I deplore him .”
    “Him? Who?”
    “You know very well who I mean.” Harriet was losing patience with him. If he pushed her much further she would go find Fieldgate. “Stop being the fool all London takes you for.”
    “But he’s quite a handy fellow, that fool.”
    “He’s an annoying jinglebrains.”
    “That’s the point, minx.”
    “I know who you are.”
    “Do you?” He’d turned a bit and whispered the question into her ear.
    Her breath caught in her throat, so that she was only able to answer with one word. “ Yes .”
    Oh, yes, she knew who he was. The only man who had ever made her heart beat like this.
    And then he moved closer, brushing against the hem of her gown, and Harriet clung to the tree to steady herself. “No one would believe you, Kitten.”
    Kitten . Not Harry, but Kitten. His Kitten.
    Harriet looked up at the bit of the night sky peeking through the thick canopy of leaves overhead and spied a single star. A lone, twinkling light. And so she wished.
    “You don’t have to hide from me,” she whispered.
    It was an invitation, one she knew he desired. She’d seen his struggle for months now—this game he played, this role he lived. This capering fool. Society’s ridiculous gadfly.
    But that wasn’t the man she knew. The man she’d kissed in Sir Mauris’s garden in London. The earl she’d known since they were children.
    No, the one she loved, adored, desired, was the one with his gaze fixed on hers, his jaw set as if he were determined to do the right thing.
    Oh, he’d chosen the right costume for the night. Lancelot. A man conflicted by duty and passion.
    And he told her as much, his words almost desperate. “Why did you have to grow up, Harry? Why couldn’t you have stayed in Kempton—stayed my impossible imp?”
    “I still am.”
    “Oh, you are, but in an entirely new and utterly impossible way.”
    “Why is it impossible, Roxley?” It certainly wouldn’t be if you would but kiss me.
    “I promised your brothers I’d keep an eye on you.”
    Harriet moved closer, caught hold of his lapels and did the impossible, even as she whispered, “Then close your eyes.”

 

    Chapter 1
    I have seen one night be the ruin of many a good man.
    Lt. Throckmorten to Miss Darby
    from Miss Darby’s Reckless Bargain
    London, April 1811
    Eight months later
    E very gambler knows the moment when his luck changes.
    And not for the good. Luck is too fickle of a lover to whisper in a gamester’s ear to encourage him to double down.
    No, when she turns her back on a fellow, he knows it. As sure as all the air in the room has rushed out.
    Like a fish out of water, he suddenly finds himself grasping at anything that might return her bright favor to his dark and empty pockets.
    So it was with Tiberius Maximus Marshom, the 7th Earl of Roxley.
    Roxley, who took wagers that no one else would, and won  . . . The earl who always had pockets of vowels that only needed collecting was now dodging friends and ducking out of White’s to avoid the embarrassment of his current dire financial straits.
    And his shocking turn of luck was