Will She Be Mine Read Free Page A

the farthest end of the
bench and grinned coaxingly at her. “You will blow up if you don’t, you know.
Perhaps I can be of further assistance? I gather you are not angry about your
roses. I smelled the fire earlier so you must have followed my instructions.
Thank you.” She nodded automatically. He continued so that she had more time to
collect herself. “The reason for my appreciation is that my botanical
experiments are with roses. I would not want my special roses to contract the
fungus. I am engaged in an attempt to breed tea roses, which are more delicate
than wild roses, to be resistant to salt in the air.”
    She murmured something appropriate but he wasn’t really
listening to her polite nothings. Instead he was searching her expression for a
clue to her ire. He waited patiently.
    “If it isn’t the roses,” he finally said, looking away from
her face to the distant view, “then what has cut up your peace?”
    “It is my solicitor, Mr. Shufflebottom,” she confessed at
last. Amelia looked suspiciously at him when something that sounded strongly
like a snort escaped him. He blinked innocently and nodded encouragement. She
narrowed her eyes at him as she continued. “He is my family’s solicitor and
when I inherited a comfortable independence from my godmother, he looked after
my money as well. However, whenever I want something he considers an
extravagance, he insists on consulting my parents before he gives me enough
money to acquire it.”
    “Forgive me, but are you of age?” Thaddeus asked, frowning.
    “I am almost twenty-two. I am not a child who must be told
what to do or how to spend my own money!” Amelia’s exclamation brought a
becoming flush to her cheeks and a decided sparkle to her lovely golden-green
eyes. “I let my parents bullock me into moving to this out-of-the-way village
because I’ve embarrassed them. Very well. I understand that my delicate
situation would have humiliated them if it had become generally known in
Weymouth. I like it here in Hinderwell. Honestly, I do. But when that weasel of
a man tells me that I cannot buy a pony trap or a pianoforte, it is the outside
of enough!”
    “Brava, Miss Horton. Did you tell him that?”
    Amelia deflated. “No.” She looked down at her hands and the
mangled cotton square. “I am intimidated by him. He’s the same age as my father
and he makes me feel as if I’m six years old and have not yet cut my eyeteeth.
And, he’s always looking at my…” She pressed her hand to her rounded stomach
and grimaced.
    “He sounds like a scoundrel,” Thaddeus said, curling his
lip. She nodded miserably. He rose from the bench, shoved his hands into the
pockets of his tweed trousers and began to pace up and down in front of the
bench. “I think, Miss Horton, I can be of more assistance than just a
sympathetic ear. This insignificant…leech of a man has no business virtually
holding you at his mercy.”
     
    Amelia could only stare at the passion visible in his
expression. He was angry on her behalf. It had been so long since anyone other
than Mrs. Edley had been on her side that her heart softened even further
toward him.
    “If you will pardon my presumption, Miss Horton, what you
need is a new man of business,” Thaddeus stated firmly. He stopped in front of
her.
    “Granted. But where am I to find one? I have no way to
travel into Whitby and I do not know of a reputable firm to hire.”
    “I know just the firm. My own man of business, Farley, works
for the best firm in Whitby and I have always found him reliable.”
    “You…your man of business?” she faltered. “But—”
    Thaddeus looked at her sharply and wondered at her reaction
to his suggestion. Then he recollected himself. “Please excuse me, Miss Horton.
I’ve lived out of polite society for many years and I easily forget how
important appearances can be. I imagine it would not be appropriate for you to
have the same man of business as myself.”
    “No,” Amelia said,