The Earl's Passionate Plot Read Free

hat nervously in his hands as he approached the earl.
    "You must understand Miss Langley's situation," the man began. "It came as a great shock to her that the property was not held in fee simple by her step-father. When the transaction was made years ago, your father led him to believe the property was not in entail and that it could be sold to him outright."
    "Obviously my father lied," the earl said.
    His honesty seemed to startle the man. He'd found most people reacted that way when confronted with a harsh truth that would usually be sugar-coated or skirted around. But Dovington never coated nor skirted. That was both a waste of time and a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to maintain the upper hand in a situation.
    " My father was a liar, pure and simple," he continued, pleased with the look of discomfort and confusion over the solicitor's face. "He squandered his fortune and then cheated and lied to whomever it pleased him in an effort to get his hands on more money to squander. I make no apologies for him."
    "Then you are willing to come to a solution that will satisfy Miss Langley ?"
    "Indeed, I would be most willing to satisfy Miss Langley," Dovington said, giving her a smile she could in no way misunderstand. "She will be happy to know I can satisfy her here for a full three days before she and her family need to vacate this home."
     

Chapter 3
    The man was a beast —a huge, terrifying, beautiful beast. Not that she would ever be attracted to his brand of dangerous magnetism. Let him leer at her as he did; let him rake over her person with those dark, archangel eyes. Other women might be tempted by his aura of power and the dangerous passion that virtually oozed from him. She was not.
    Nor would she be intimidated, even if she felt a bit like a mouse staring into the gaping maw of a ravenous lion. This was her home, her family's home. The law of the land might be on his side, but the fact was that she was here and it would take more than some dark-eyed posturing on his part to remove her. At the very least, it would take more than three days.
    No matter what he insinuated he might plan on doing for those three days, the randy letch.
    "Sorry to inconvenience you, my lord, but there is absolutely nothing you could say —or do—that would give me any satisfaction at all in just three day's time," she said, making sure by her tone that he knew she understood him full well and was not amused. "I'm afraid three days is hardly time to make arrangements for my family to be removed elsewhere. I advise you to return to wherever it is you came from and we will see that you are notified when our plans have been settled."
    If she had been hoping to set him off guard by her defiance—a thing she was certain he was unused to seeing—she was left disappointed. The fire in his eyes merely burned hotter and the corner of his elegant lips twisted into an interested half smile. Apparently all she'd achieved was to lay down a challenge before him. Drat. That was the last thing she needed.
    "You would be amazed what might be accomplished in three days time, Miss Langley. I can be most... persuasive."
    "Some things cannot be persuaded, sir. Furniture, for instance. I doubt even you could persuade all of our things to get up and make their way to some new abode —even if we had some new abode to send them to. I'm sorry, sir, but the process will take considerable time."
    "Three days, Miss Langley. That is all the time you have."
    "Oh? And what will happen at the end of those three days? The house will vanish in a puff of pixie dust? Barbarians will arrive at the door to begin pillaging and plundering?"
    Clearly he was equally unamused by her tone. "No. Not pixies or barbarians, I'm afraid. It's much worse."
    "Worse? What could possibly be worse than barbarians?"
    "Americans ."
    "Americans?"
    "Yes. Americans with money—the worst kind."
    "You are serious?"
    "I am," he said as if pronouncing sentence on all of them. "I am