Sweet Temptation Read Free Page A

emotions may coexist.”
    “Then I’ll never understand. An heir isn’t important enough for me to live a lie for thirty years.”
    “I hope you will reconsider,” the Earl said quite calmly. “The Parkhaven estates have been handed down from father to son for over five hundred years. It is unthinkable that they should pass out of the family when there is a healthy son capable of siring heirs.”
    “How do you know I haven’t sired several already?”
    “I will not tolerate a pack of bastards sired from blowzy country sluts, fighting over a title that has been unsullied for half a millennium,” decreed the Earl, suddenly losing some of his reserve.
    “Is that all you care about, the title and the name?”
    “I care about a great deal more, but you don’t seem to care for anything at all.”
    “I do,” Gavin assured his father with a mocking smile. “I care for my horses and my clothes, and I often worry whether the champagne will last out the night.”
    “I could cut off your allowance, and force you to accept my wishes in order to live.”
    “I’m lucky at cards,” replied Gavin with a sudden grin. “And my horses win more than their share of races.”
    “It’s inconceivable that a son of mine could actually consider supporting himself by gambling,” the Earl intoned, much as if Gavin had just announced his intention of becoming a highwayman. “Does the Parkhaven name mean nothing to you?”
    “Not a damned thing. And after I’m gone, anybody who wants it can have it.”
    “Lochknole will not leave my family,” vowed the Earl, with such vehemence that Gavin was surprised into regarding him more closely.
    “How are you going to manage that?” Gavin took a swallow from the mug of ale that had been set down before him.
    “Do you care for your mother’s happiness?” Gavin stopped in mid-swallow. The Earl watched him closely, but Gavin finished his swallow and set the mug back on the tray before answering.
    “I’m surprised you don’t choke when you mention her,” he replied, barely able to maintain his attitude of unconcern.
    “If you won’t consider marrying for the sake of the family name, perhaps you will consider it for her.”
    “She’d never ask it of me.”
    “I don’t think you quite understand me,” his father said very deliberately, watching Gavin intently all the while. “Your mother would very much like to see you surrounded by your children, but though she might urge you to take a wife, I’m convinced she’s too kindhearted to require it of you. I, on the other hand, have no such reluctance.” The Earl favored his son with an enigmatic smile. “Your willingness to accommodate me in this matter would insure your mother’s comfort.”
    “Mother has survived nearly twenty years without your consideration. She sure as hell can get along without it now.”
    “You always were an unreasonable child,” the Earl observed irritably, “but it is quite possible that I will find myself without the resources to provide for her care.”
    Gavin took an impatient swallow from his ale. “You can take care of mother out of her own fortune.”
    “I don’t know when, or if, I will receive any more revenues from Scotland.”
    “Then use your own money.”
    “Most of my income derives from Edinburgh, which was captured in September. The rest is tied up in ventures supported by the money of an old friend who came with me from Scotland.”
    Gavin regarded his father cynically, unmoved and indifferent. “This is the first I’ve heard of that. How do I know you’re not lying again?”
    “Do you think I’m proud of having been born a pauper?” his father said quietly, his voice vibrating with unspoken rage. “Do you think I want it known that if the Raymond money were withdrawn, a business organization I have worked more than half my life to build would collapse tomorrow?” Carlisle breathed deeply and took a few seconds to calm himself.
    Gavin was astonished. He was used to