The Earl's Passionate Plot Read Free Page A

negotiating to let this house. In three days time the Vandenhoffs of New York will be arriving here to stay for a week to decide whether or not they wish to make residence here for the duration of summer."
    "You have leased our house already?" She could barely stammer the words out for all the choking anger she felt. "While we are still living here?"
    "No, by the time they arrive you will no longer be living here. The house will be vacant."
    "It most certainly will not be!"
    "It had better be, Miss Langley. You cannot very well expect me to offer them a house that is already full, can you?"
    "But three days, sir... impossible. It simply cannot be done."
    "Of course it is possible, Miss Langley. This is my house and I am giving you three full days to vacate it. Perhaps you'd best stop whining now and get on with your preparations."
    Her body wanted to crumble into a weepy, broken pile on the floor but she willed herself to stand firm. Lord Dovington was frightful in his demands, moving toward her as he spoke so that now he loomed large. He glared at her, the air around him sizzling as if something dreadful would happen if she so much as thought of disobeying his command.
    But what choice did she have? There was no way they could have a whole lifetime removed from this house in just three days, even if she wanted to. The man was being completely unrealistic and cruel. She hated cruelty even more than she feared the burning menace smoldering in Dovington's dark eyes.
    "No."
    "What was that?"
    "I said no, my lord."
    "I thought that's what you said. What on earth does it mean?"
    She could well understand the man had not often heard the word, but she doubted he truly did not know it's meaning. She'd be happy to remind him of it, though. Often.
    "It means you cannot come barging in here demanding your way, sir. It means I have no intention of making any preparations whatsoever. It means this is our home, and my family and I are not leaving any time soon." She could see the fury building behind his hard expression, yet she hesitated only a little before delivering her final blow. "Certainly not before, as you say, you have satisfied me."
    That clearly caught his attention just as much as her "no" had. The arrogant bounder.
    "Now you're talking sense," he said with a half-smile every bit as blistering as it was cold. "And just what sort of satisfaction have you in mind, Miss Langley?"
    "I'm talking about payment of what you owe us for the twenty-years my family managed your property," she replied, keeping her voice icy and tight. "I'm sure Mr. Milson will be happy to help me figure out what these numbers must be and then draw up the papers. Once you have paid that debt, sir, I will be satisfied. My family and I will gladly leave Renford Hall."
    He steamed at her. "It's The Grove , damn it. This house has been called The Grove since my great-grandfather started building it in 1690."
    "Well it was renamed Renford Hall when your derelict father fraudulently sold it to William Renford a hundred-and-some years later and I'll thank you to watch your tongue, please."
    She could see him struggle to regain his temper, but he did so. His fists tightened and he took a deep breath or two, but eventually he calmed and inclined his head toward her.
    "Forgive me. I concede this situation must be as uncomfortable for you as it is for me but let us agree on one thing: the Americans are coming and a solution must be reached before they arrive. I have no way to contact them as they travel, and I can hardly slam the door in their faces when they arrive. Mr. Vandenhoff is highly regarded in his native land. Would you have him haul his wife and daughter off to some lowly inn for a week while you and I argue over details?"
    She hardly felt twenty years of investment into this home and the notion of her family out on the street were details, but one thing in his lordship's words did catch her ear.
    "They have a daughter?"
    "Yes. Miss Mable Vandenhoff on her