Read Online Love's Harbinger by Joan Smith - Free Book Online

his plate. “I cannot imagine why we are arguing about titles and gentlemen and commoners. It has nothing to do with our problem. As far as that goes, I am no more than genteel myself. I was born Miss Haversham, you know, Faith, and Sir John was as common as dirt. He was knighted for finally getting elected a Tory, and that is all that allows me to be called Lady Lynne.”
    “I am not ashamed of living by my wits,” Guy said as a peace offering.
    It was spurned out of hand. “That would account for the paucity of your living accommodations,” Faith said angrily.
    Her aunt felt a pronounced desire to shake the girl. As this was ineligible, she decided to give her a more subtle lesson. “As to the Mordain title,” she said spitefully, “you hit the nail on the head, Guy. One of Faith’s female ancestors had the wits to oblige her monarch, and he conferred the earldom on her husband.”
    “The first Lord Mordain was an officer in the king’s army!” Faith said.
    “That is true, my dear. The king wished him away and sent him off to France.”
    Delamar looked down his nose at Faith and remarked blandly, “Now you will accept my opinion that time dilutes the blood.”
    She glared at him but refused to acknowledge the hit. “Shall we go now, Auntie? As soon as we have paid for our share of this stop, of course.”
    Her aunt smiled appeasingly at Guy, then turned to her troublesome niece. “Run along and have our valises brought down, dear, while we settle up here.”
    The settling up consisted of no more than a polite thank you and an apology for her niece’s farouche behavior. To explain it away, she added, “The poor child is pushed beyond reason by this business. She is so desperately in love with Thomas, you must know.”
    He regarded her critically. “Yesterday you called it fondness. This accretion of love is sudden, n'est-ce-pas ?”
    Lady Lynne’s real interest was to note that Guy was capable of a French phrase, and in a good accent, too, but as some reply needed to be made, she said, “It was rather more than that, as it turns out. She is a private sort of person and keeps her feelings to herself.”
    “She doesn’t keep her dislike under such close wraps.”
    “You were rather hard on her, I think. The family name means so much to her. Glory is all that survives, really. The money has been gone for decades.”
    “As I understand it, Lord Thomas wasn’t well to grass, either. What did they propose to live on?”
    “Love—and a pittance. Unwise, but then she is young. She had an excellent offer from Mr. Morrison, a fellow whose papa runs a brewery, but blue blood and beer do not mix. She preferred Lord Thomas’s poverty.”
    “ Chacun à son goût ,” “ he said, and shrugged his shoulders.
    “You did not pick up that French accent in Spain, Guy. Wherever did you learn it?”
    He gave a derisive smile and said, “In the gutters of Paris. Travel is broadening, they say. It ought to be on the curriculum of ladies’ seminaries; it might yank the chits out of their ignorant self-complacency.”
    “It did not sound like gutter French to me, but then I am as ignorant as a swan. I have never been abroad and lay no claim to any decent education whatsoever. What I know, I learned from novels.”
    “It is refreshing to hear a lady admit the truth. You have developed at least an understanding of human nature,” he said, and held the door for her.
    The two carriages were soon rattling along the road toward Bournemouth. Lady Lynne decided to take her niece to task in hopes of more harmonious stops in the future.
    “It was not necessary for you to display your provincial upbringing for Mr. Delamar’s benefit, Faith,” she said sternly. “If you have any hope of finding Thomas, you’d better humor the fellow. You and I wouldn’t have much chance without him. He had a few things to say about your ignorance.”
    “I have no interest in Mr. Delamar’s opinion of me, she asserted comprehensively,