Love's Reward Read Free Page B

Earl. Lord Evenham had a short temper and very little patience with his sons reenacting the classics.
    Let Helen but smile, and Trojans and Greeks war to the death.
    With a slightly grim smile, Fitzroy thought about the lovely Lady Carhill, and how delectable she had looked in her shift. He hoped he had not made her into a permanent enemy.
     

Chapter 2
     
    Joanna sat in the parlor of the Swan Inn gazing distractedly into the fireplace. She was beginning to wish she had chosen someone other than Quentin Mountfitchet for this particular adventure. For now he was getting visibly drunk. He sat opposite her in a large wing-backed chair, his booted feet tossed onto a stool, and he was working his way steadily through several bottles of claret.
    “We’re stuck here for the day,” he said. “Do you mind very much?”
    His voice was not slurred, and he did not look in the least disheveled. Brown hair curled gaily over his handsome forehead. His cravat was still neatly tied in the mathematical . His green eyes were only faintly bloodshot, and there was just the slightest increase in his air of abandonment.
    Obviously Mr. Mountfitchet could hold his liquor, even after a night without sleep. Nevertheless, it did not bode well for their early arrival at Harefell.
    “Are you quite sure that the curricle cannot be repaired until tonight?” Joanna could not hide the exasperation in her voice. “Then, pray, why do we not take the public stage?”
    It took him just a moment too long to reply.
    “Lost all the blunt, Jo. I’m sorry. Rotten run of luck, don’t you know?”
    Joanna stood up and flung down the gloves she had been holding. She was still wearing her pelisse, although the parlor was warm.
    “Only my brothers call me ‘Jo’, sir. And I am perfectly well aware that while I sat in here and ate my breakfast alone, you indulged in a few rounds of whist with some other gentlemen in the common parlor. I am also aware that you lost very deeply. You told me so at least thirty minutes ago, when you first rejoined me in here.”
    “I did?”
    “Yes, yet you seem to be making no efforts to mend the situation, and I refuse to believe you do not have credit. It is clear dawn. We have been here for three hours. The sun is shining on a frosty world, bright with promise. The rooster cried out his possession of the midden some time ago. So why on earth are we still sitting in this parlor, Mr. Mountfitchet? Good heavens! If you don’t care to accompany me any farther, I shall travel on by myself.”
    She picked up her gloves and began to walk toward the door.
    In a few long strides, Quentin arrived there before her.
    “Oh, no! That would be beyond the bounds of anything. You’re very pretty, Lady Joanna, and charmingly young. It would be dangerous for you to attempt to travel alone. I rather fancy sharing your company a little longer. After all, I brought you this far. Don’t you think you owe me something for that?”
    She had no idea that he could move so fast. Quentin stood with his back pressed against the door and his arms folded very deliberately across his chest. He grinned at her and tossed back an errant lock of hair. The grin sent dimples into both cheeks.
    Joanna looked back at him quite calmly.
    “Yes, I know you admire my raven locks. You told me so at Fenton Stacey when we first met. And although I feel quite ragged for lack of sleep, you remain a perfect replica of a Greek coin. Your profile is flawless, and your cravat the very model of attractiveness. An entire night of debauchery has barely disarranged it. All that is quite beside the point.”
    He laughed in genuine delight. “A night of debauchery? My dear child, I would like to show you one. Then you would not be so careless with language. It seems to me that we spent five hours in fast driving before we arrived here, and less than three hours in debauchery, which sadly was mine alone.”
    Joanna shrugged with considerable eloquence, a dismissal of this