Kissing Cousins Read Free Page A

Salverton was unfamiliar with the name told him the woman was unknown to society.
    When she was finished with her story, he said only, “ Why didn ’ t you make your bows like a lady instead of capering about town like a hoyden? ”
    “ Good gracious, Edward, I am not on the catch for a parti. I am hardly a deb! I am well past that! ”
    Lord Salverton found room in his mind for displeasure at her usurping his Christian name without permission. “ My friends call me Salverton, ” he said through thin lips. “ My relations more usually call me Cousin Edward. Am I to understand you have already chosen a parti, Cousin? Would I know the gentleman? ”
    “ I am not engaged, though I have not entirely given up the notion of marrying when Darren brings home a bride. And that is why I came to you. I fear Darren has been caught by Wanda. Aunt Donaldson thinks she has shanghaied him off to Gretna Green, but I think they have gone to Brighton. ”
    “ To be married? ” he asked in alarm. Darren Oakleigh had inherited Drumquin upon his papa ’ s death. A handsome estate of seventy-five hundred acres, and a good income. Salverton had mentally assigned him to his cousin, Aurora Semple, who would make her bows in two years ’ time.
    “ Well, I am not so sure it is marriage they have in mind. ”
    Salverton was somewhat reassured by this. “ If it is only an — er — affair, ” he said, “ I trust he will be discreet. ”
    “ He won ’ t have much to say about it. Wanda leads him around by the halter, and she doesn ’ t know the meaning of the word discreet. The thing is, Cousin, they took some money that didn ’ t belong to them, though I don ’ t believe for one moment that Darren knew that. I wager Wanda told him Sir Geoffrey owed her the thousand pounds. She was Sir Geoffrey ’ s ch è re amie as it turns out, only, of course, none of us had any notion of it. ”
    Salverton listened, dumbfounded.
    “ The story she told us, ” Samantha continued, “ was that he was her cousin, and trying to force her into marriage. But Miss Burridge, who lives in the flat above Aunt Talbot, who lent us her place on Upper Grosvenor Square, you know, says Sir Geoffrey is already married. Miss Burridge is a regular Jeremiah. She would paint the Archbishop of Canterbury black if she could, but as it turns out, it is no more than the truth about Sir Geoffrey. He says the money was stolen, in any case. He reported it to Bow Street. We had a call from a Mr. Townsend, which is why I came to you for advice. ”
    Lord Salverton ’ s face turned from tan to rosy red, then faded to something very like the color of a slug as this tale unfolded. An Oakleigh, kin to the Marquess of Salverton, being sought for theft! Capering about the countryside with a known harlot, and possibly in danger of marrying her, bringing her into the family!
    This would have been enough to induce an apoplexy in his lordship at the best of times. This present May was the worst of times for such news. Not only was he on the verge of offering his hand and title (though perhaps not his heart) to Lady Louise St. John, eldest and best-dowered daughter of the Duke of Derwent; of equal importance, after long years of service he was being considered for elevation to the Tory Cabinet. The worst possible time for a scandal!
    “ Why the devil didn ’ t you come to me sooner! ” he said in a voice several tones higher than usually heard under Salverton ’ s noble roof. He didn ’ t notice the strength of his voice, but the word “ devil ” struck his ear amiss. It was not one he approved of in others, and certainly not in himself, especially in front of a lady. Even a lady wearing coquelicot ribbons.
    “ We came to London to have a good time. Some fun, you know. There seemed no point in contacting you. ”
    The worst of this facer was that she didn ’ t even mean it as an insult. Salverton swallowed his ire and said in his most laconic accents, “ Our views on what