No Marriage of Convenience Read Free Page A

girls.”
    She opened her mouth to protest, then just as quickly shut it.
    While Frederick and Caro had held society in their thrall with their wit and grace, the likeable and handsomepair had passed none of their amiable traits on to their children.
    Cousin Felicity glanced at the door, then back at Mason before she too lowered her voice. “Oh, I’ll grant you they are a bit on the ungainly side, but that’s just because Caro neglected their schooling.” She sighed. “I don’t like to gossip, but I always thought it scandalous that she wouldn’t entertain the notion of seeing the girls brought out. I’m afraid Caro felt that having daughters out in society would call attention to the fact that she wasn’t a newly arrived Original herself.” Cousin Felicity picked at a loose thread on her needlework. “Certainly, with a bit of time and help, I think Louisa may show some real promise. And Beatrice and Margaret need only the right guidance to bring out their true talents.”
    Mason nearly laughed, too afraid to ask her what those talents were. Though he loved his nieces in spite of their faults, what his cousin proposed would take time and cost a great deal of money.
    Two things they didn’t have.
    As Cousin Felicity offered up names of tutors and ideas for economies, Mason glanced over at the mountain of debts on his desk and considered his next course of action.
    When he’d received Cousin Felicity’s note seven months ago informing him of his brother’s and sister-in-law’s deaths in a yachting accident, he’d left his fellowship at Oxford fully intending to settle the family estates, see his nieces and cousin established comfortably, and then return to the college before the fall sessions started.
    But since then he’d done nothing but try to unravel the tangled Ashlin estates. First working with the solicitors, and then enduring the visits by creditors.
    The visits. Oh, how he dreaded them.
    So sorry, my lord. If I could trouble you for just a moment, ’tis the matter of this debt.
    I hate to speak of such things, my lord, but I was wondering when you could see to this bill.
    Lately their creditors had become less polite and more to the point.
    My lord, without some sort of consideration or payment, I’m afraid I’ll have to…
    Mason knew what they would have to do. His nieces and cousin wouldn’t have anything left, even their shifts and stockings were part of unpaid accounts.
    And up until a few weeks ago, he’d been inclined to let everything be taken away, sell whatever was left, and retreat back to Oxford. There he would make the best life he could for his family and forget he’d ever been made heir to the Ashlin legacy of debt and wastrel ways.
    That was until, late one night, he’d stumbled across a tattered volume on his family history in the library upstairs. In his desire to separate himself from every tawdry thing his recent forebears represented, he’d never taken the time to realize his father and Frederick were nothing like their illustrious ancestors.
    Ashlins had fought beside their kings in the Crusades and been consulted in matters of state during the reign of Henry Tudor. Ashlins had sailed as privateers under a grant by Good Queen Bess. Ashlins had helped Charles II regain his throne.
    Instead of being known for gambling debts, endless strings of mistresses, and other dubious endeavors and scandals, the Ashlin name, Mason discovered, had once been associated with honor, their sacrifices for King and country revered. It was the reason the very square they lived on was named after them.
    So in the faint light of dawn, as he’d finished the lastpage of the heroic testimonial, Mason knew there was only one thing to do.
    Keep the family from being mired any further in scandal and return the name of Ashlin to its place of honor.
    A sharp rap at the door brought Mason out of his silent musings and stopped Cousin Felicity’s prattling about potential husbands for the girls.
    Looking