Read Online Love Between the Lines by Kate Rothwell - Free Book Online Page A

gentleman like her father. Unlike her mother, at least she could put her feet flat on the floor. “Some stories take time and resources to write, and Sir Gideon will pay me for my time even when I don’t produce stories. It’s been hard to find anyone who’ll pay me without demanding instant results.”
    Her mother frowned.
    “And he’ll pay for Oyster’s passage and employment as well as my own.”
    Her mother sniffed. “You can find that sort of help anywhere.”
    Lizzy was surprised that her mother objected to Oyster. “He’s loyal,” she started to say before it occurred to her that Mama would find something wrong with every part of the plan.
    “ Do you think I shouldn’t go?” she asked softly.
    Mrs. Drury ’s back was as straight and stiff as Lizzy’s own. The fingers of her right hand drummed on the arm of the chair. “I will be blunt,” she said at last. “I think it is a bad idea that you travel with him or spend much time in his company. Sir Gideon is a good-looking young man.” She might have said he was a sneak thief, her disdain was that strong.
    Lizzy shifted in her chair. Yes, he was good-looking. Too attractive for her to worry about him as a potential suitor and surely he wouldn’t try to seduce his own employee. He seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
    “ Mrs. Drury,” he said. “I am a gentleman, and I am Miss Drury’s employer. I can assure you that I would never take advantage of your daughter.”
    “ No, I doubt you would mean to. That’s what Lizzy’s father said all those years ago. And look at us.”
    “ Pardon me?” If Sir Gideon had been a dog, his ears would have twitched forward with interest.
    Lizzy couldn ’t believe her mother was telling this story to a near stranger—a story that always embarrassed her father.
    Mrs. Drury glanced at the door before continuing. “I was his employee, Sir Gideon. I worked for my brother, who was putting the family’s library in order.” For a moment, her face softened and she almost smiled. “Employers, even the ones with the best intentions, are still human.”
    Sir Gideon cleared his throat. “Naturally, if you think we should hire a chaperone, I would be glad to pay her way.”
    “ No. Oh no.” Lizzy was horrified. Bad enough that he insisted on visiting her family. If he kept this up, she wasn’t going to be able to do her job. “I’m already costing more as a female because of Oyster. I shall be a reporter. That is to say, I already am. I do not need to be treated as a proper young lady.”
    Her mother sighed. “Yes, that is really the issue at hand. Not where you go but what you are. And I don’t think you will ever change because you are so like your father.”
    Lizzy scowled. She was nothing like him. She ’d never run roughshod over people just because they held differing opinions. She didn’t bellow down the rafters. No one was scared of her.
    “ Stubborn,” Mama explained. “To the point of obstinacy. He’ll not give up, you know. You won’t be welcome here unless you renounce your unsuitable choices.”
    “Mama, I can ’t. Why is he so stubborn?”
    Her mother leaned forward. “It was Mr. Harrington, sweetheart.” She spoke quietly but even her whispers carried. “He went to school with your father and they were close. You saw the way the man was changed by those stories you wrote. He blamed you—”
    “ He was the criminal, not I.”
    “Yes, yes. But I ’m explaining why your father was so shaken. Mr. Harrington came to dine with us one night during the trial and I’m afraid he might have spoken to your father in a convincing manner about the lack of civility and civilization that a newspaper brings to the world.”
    “ A newspaper merely exposes the lack of civility,” Lizzy began. She was tired of this conversation.
    “ I think you’re correct. It was a memorable visit, and that is all, my darling. The poor man was entirely undone. Shaking hands, far too thin,