The Earl Takes All Read Free

box that held the Earl of Greyling. “She’ll think worse of me than she already does. I expect she’ll attack me with the handiest object that can inflict a mortal wound. And she’ll be devastated, her heart will be crushed, and her life will go dark.”
    â€œWhich is the very reason you must tell her now before you take this deception any further.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen I bloody well will,” Ashe said, heading for the door.
    Darting in front of him just as he reached for the latch, Edward cut him off. “Touch that door and I’ll lay you flat.”
    Ashe glared at him. “I refuse to let you do this.”
    â€œYou may be of the higher rank and older, but this matter does not concern you.”
    Shaking his head, Ashe squared his jaw. “It bloody well does concern us. Locke, inform him that he’s a fool and cannot do this.”
    â€œUnfortunately, I agree with him.”
    Clearly stunned, Ashe twisted around. The man whom he’d mistakenly believed to be his ally sat with one hip perched on the edge of the desk, glass of scotch in hand. “You don’t think this is a bad idea?”
    â€œI’m convinced it’s the worst idea an Englishman has had since one decided to go crusading. But he’s correct. It’s not our business, and we don’t have a say in the matter.”
    â€œYou might not care about Julia, but I do.”
    â€œBut if Edward has the right of it and telling her causes her to lose the babe, the last gift Albert will ever bestow upon her, how will you feel then?”
    Ashe’s shoulders slumping slightly, he stepped back. “I loved Albert like a brother.”
    â€œBut like a brother is not the same as being a brother,” Locke said. “Not to mention neither of us was there when Albert drew his last. We didn’t hear his final words nor did we witness the desperation that might have laced them.”
    Be me, he’d gasped. Be me. Edward had never realized how much power two small words, four letters, could hold.
    â€œDo you have to always be so bloody logical?” Ashe asked.
    Locke raised his glass. “I wouldn’t complain if I were you. My being logical contributed to you gaining your wife.”
    Shaking his head, Ashe turned his attention back to Edward. “Have you truly thought this through? How far along is she? Somewhere between seven and eight months? You’re looking at several weeks of pretending to love Julia when the two of you have never gotten along, when all of London knows you can hardly stand to be in the same room with her,” he said, getting to the crux of what he surely believed was the challenge Edward had set for himself.
    If only it was that uncomplicated. After that blasted, ill-­conceived kiss in the garden years ago, she’d never taken kindly to him, had barely tolerated his presence. Not that he blamed her. During the intervening years, his behavior had been less than exemplary. “I have considered it from every angle.”
    Balling his hands into fists, Ashe scowled. “I can see nothing but disaster on the horizon if you follow this course.”
    â€œDisaster on the horizon I can deal with when it arrives. My concern presently is avoiding disaster before the babe arrives. I know it won’t be easy—­the past ten days have been horrendous, trying to behave around her as Albert would, and I know I’ve not managed completely because she studies me as though I’m a puzzle with a piece that doesn’t quite fit. So far, I believe, Julia has kindly chalked my odd behavior and requests for solitude up to my grief. Yet I know I can’t use that excuse much longer, so I need to know what gave me away. How did you deduce it was me and not Albert wandering around today?”
    â€œI don’t know that I can help you with this,” Ashe said. “Deceit does not sit well with me.”
    â€œAnd you think it