Read Online My Enchanting Hoyden (A Once Upon A Rogue Novel, #3) by Julie Johnstone - Free Book Online Page B

on her.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “My cook’s sister is the Duke of Rowan’s cook, and she overheard him say as much. So I’m worried neither she nor her sister will have any suitors, and I thought perhaps, well, Sophia said she thought she saw a spark between you and Jemma and—”
    Philip couldn’t stand listening to any more. He couldn’t just court anybody he wanted to. Not that he wanted to court Jemma. But even if he did, he couldn’t do it now that he knew she had no dowry. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
    Amelia plunked her hands on her hips. “Why not?”
    Aversley started to cough, and Philip shot him a silencing look.
    “Because I cannot simply decide to court someone just because you don’t want her to be without suitors.” That was true enough. The fact that he could only court women who had money didn’t need to be shared with his sister. His palms dampened at the despicable thought.
    “That makes sense,” Amelia said. “Luckily, I’ve invited Jemma for dinner, and the two of you can become better acquainted.”
    Hellfire. The last thing he needed was his sister trying to match him with the dowerless Jemma, no matter how enticing the lady was. He shook his head. “I cannot stay for dinner.”
    Amelia scowled. “Do you have a better offer?”
    “No, but Mother agreed to sponsor Cousin Eustice for the Season, so she may need me at home.”
    “For what?” Amelia demanded, her voice full of skepticism.
    “I don’t know,” Philip growled, starting to feel trapped. His sister was making it incredibly hard not to lie to her, a thing he did not want to do. “Maybe Mother will want my help making a list of eligible bachelors for Eustice.”
    Amelia shook her head. “Mother wouldn’t do that.”
    “She may,” Philip argued. Who was Amelia to say what someone would never do? She probably thought he would never marry for money, after all.
    Amelia narrowed her eyes. “All right. I’ll play along. Let us say Mother did want to make a list. That’s not something you would do.”
    Philip stepped around Amelia and edged his way toward the door. “I’d do anything for Mother,” he said without looking back. “You know that.”
    “Well, any man who writes a poem titled The Champion of True Love would never make a list of men for a woman trying to catch as a husband,” Amelia said to his back.
    Philip scowled at the reference to the poem he’d written after Mary had broken off their betrothal. “Only a sister would dare to allude to the lowest point in a man’s life.”
    Amelia clicked her tongue. “I’m here to remind you of your true self.”
    He stepped through the threshold with one foot in the study and the other in the passageway. “Do I appear to have forgotten my true self?” He faced his sister, wanting to see her expression. He had a sudden suspicion that his sister had been eavesdropping at Aversley’s study door.
    She stood wide-eyed and the picture of innocence, which he knew could be quite deceiving, knowing Amelia as he did. She offered him a sweet smile. “Are you not the one always saying true love simply happens and that one cannot plan for it?”
    “Mother is not planning for love,” Philip grumbled, not liking that Amelia’s comments were making him feel as though he was betraying who he was when all he was doing was trying to save his family and maintain his pride. “She is planning for marriage.”
    Amelia’s brows dipped. “Do you no longer believe the two go hand in hand?”
    “In a perfect world.”
    “Oh, Philip!” Amelia’s voice trembled slightly. “When did you quit thinking like a poet?”
    When I realized I was about to no longer be able to afford food, he wanted to say. Instead, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have to go.”
    He didn’t wait for a reply. He charged out of the study, down the corridor into the main hall, and brushed past the footman who was reaching to open the door for him. Philip, needing an