My Lady, My Lord Read Free Page A

lines played about his eyes more deeply than ever, and his mouth seemed tight. “You look peaked. Are you spending too much time at your club these days?”
    “No. It is merely late.”
    “I suppose I never notice the hour when I am having so much fun.” Voices rose across the chamber, and she released his arm. “I must go see to that.”
    “Then perhaps you will address Pelley?”
    “Yes. Although I do wish he would come to me first. His reticence is disheartening.”
    “But you never let that deter you, do you?”
    “I never let anything deter me from getting what I want, Papa.” With a serene smile, she moved across the room.
    ~o0o~
    Two hours later she took her father’s arm again to ascend the steps to her bedchamber.
    “I noticed your reaction when Pistrucci mentioned Lady Chance’s exhibition tomorrow,” he said. “I fear that it might prove too much for you after this evening. If you are too weary to attend, Cora, I will make your excuses to Lady Chance. I’m certain she would understand.”
    The glow in her chest could not entirely be dimmed by the next day’s prospects. Nine years ago she had vowed never to let Ian Chance distress her again, and she wasn’t about to break that vow now.
    “Miss the opening tomorrow? Of course not. The exhibition is purported to be the finest gathering of Attic religious statuary in decades anywhere in Europe. And I never miss one of Lady Chance’s events.”
    He patted her hand. “He may not attend.”
    Corinna stiffened. “Who may not attend?”
    “Chance,” her father replied with a grim mouth. “I understand he’s quite busy with his stables currently.”
    Corinna’s stomach cramped again. She could never hear of that man’s infamously successful stables without actual pain radiating from her left ankle. On rainy days her joint ached without any instigation. The accident had happened over twenty years ago, but some wounds never healed completely. She had gotten almost to the point where she didn’t even think of the horrid incident when she felt the discomfort.
    Almost.
    “Papa,” she trained her voice to serenity, as though conversing with a guest at one of her gatherings, “you know I don’t give a fig as to whether the Earl of Chance is at the museum tomorrow or on Charon’s ferry crossing the River Acheron.” She laughed carelessly.
    “Mm.” They approached her bedchamber door. “I will be at my club tomorrow. Shall I meet you at the exhibition?”
    “Yes. I have calls to pay in the morning. But it would be delightful to discuss the show with you afterward.”
    He smiled. “Corinna, you are a daughter a man can be truly proud of.”
    “That is because you and Mama made me so, of course.” She squeezed his hand. “Papa,” she ventured. “It has been more than four years now since Mama passed away. Are you certain you don’t wish to marry again?”
    His eyes grew evasive. She hadn’t said a thing about it in ages. But lately he seemed unsettled, so unlike the even-tempered man she’d known her entire life, her closest companion since her mother died except for her two younger sisters. But Adela was married, awaiting the birth of her first child in the countryside, and Sophie was away at school for her final year.
    Corinna had never had a home apart from her parents. During her first years out in society, she’d been too busy attending lectures and supporting her father’s political initiatives in Parliament to welcome suitors. When her diplomat uncle and aunt invited her on their travels abroad, she’d gone along with them happily. Then her mother died, and she returned to England to act as her father’s hostess. After the year of mourning ended, when she told him about her dreams of hosting a salon
,
he agreed to it. He remained with her in the London house, showing society that he supported her intellectual pursuits. He had always been the best of fathers. But all had not been right with him for too long.
    “I know when you