It Happened One Autumn Read Free Page A

them on the hard surface of his stomach. In deference to the unseasonable warmth of the early September afternoon, Marcus had removed his coat and rolled up his sleeves, revealing muscular brown forearms lightly dusted with black hair. He was of medium height and extraordinarily fit, with the powerful physique of an avid sportsman.
    Eager to hear more about the aforementioned behaviors of the ill-bred Miss Bowman, Livia leaned back against the edge of the desk, facing Marcus. “I wonder what Miss Bowman did to offend you so?” she mused aloud. “Do tell, Marcus. If not, my imagination will surely conjure up something far more scandalous than poor Miss Bowman is capable of.”
    “Poor Miss Bowman?” Marcus snorted. “Don’t ask, Livia. I’m not at liberty to discuss it.”
    Like most men, Marcus didn’t seem to understand thatnothing torched the flames of a woman’s curiosity more violently than a subject that one was not at liberty to discuss. “Out with it, Marcus,” she commanded. “Or I shall make you suffer in unspeakable ways.”

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    One of his brows lifted in a sardonic arch. “Since the Bowmans have already arrived, that threat is redundant.”
    “I’ll make a guess, then. Did you catch Miss Bowman with someone? Was she allowing some gentleman to kiss her…orworse?”
    Marcus responded with a derisive half smile. “Hardly. One look at her, and any man in his right mind would run screaming in the opposite direction.”
    Beginning to feel that her brother was being rather too harsh on Lillian Bowman, Livia frowned. “She’s a very pretty girl, Marcus.”
    “A pretty facade isn’t enough to make up for the flaws in her character.”
    “Which are?”
    Marcus made a faint scoffing sound, as if Miss Bowman’s faults were too obvious to require enumeration. “She’s manipulative.”
    “So are you, dear,” Livia murmured.
    He ignored that. “She’s domineering.”
    “As are you.”
    “She’s arrogant.”
    “Also you,” Livia said brightly.
    Marcus glowered at her. “I thought we were discussing Miss Bowman’s faults, not mine.”
    “But you seem to have so much in common,” Livia protested, rather too innocently. She watched as he set the pen down, aligning it with the other articles on his desk. “Regarding her inappropriate behavior—are you saying that you didnot catch her in a compromising situation?”
    “No, I didn’t say that. I only said that she wasn’t with a gentleman.”
    “Marcus, I don’t have time for this,” Livia said impatiently. “I must go welcome the Bowmans—and so must you—but before we leave this study, I demand that you tell me what scandalous thing she was doing!”
    “It’s too ridiculous to say.”
    “Was she riding a horse astride? Smoking a cigar? Swimming naked in a pond?”
    “Not quite.” Moodily Marcus picked up a stereoscope that was poised on the corner of the desk—a birthday gift that had been sent from their sister, Aline, who was now living with her husband in New York. The stereoscope was a brand-new invention, fashioned of maple wood and glass. When a stereo card—a double photograph—was clipped on the extension behind the lens, the picture appeared as a three-dimensional image. The depth and detail of the stereo photographs were startling …the twigs of a tree seemed likely to scratch the viewer’s nose, and a mountain chasm yawned open with such realism Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    that it seemed you might fall to your death at any moment. Lifting the stereoscope to his eyes, Marcus examined the view of the Colosseum in Rome with undue concentration.
    Just as Livia was about to explode with impatience, Marcus muttered, “I saw Miss Bowman playing rounders in her undergarments.”
    Livia stared at him blankly. “Rounders? Do you mean the game with the leather ball and flat-sided bat?”
    Marcus’s