Read Online Seduction In Silk: A Novel of the Malloren World (Malloran) by Jo Beverley - Free Book Online Page A

“I’ll go.”
    She had to rub her hands on her skirt as she crossed the front room, for her palms were damp. She opened the door, and there he was, sword at his side. It was common enough for gentlemen to be armed when traveling, but she felt it as a threat. A pistol, however, must beat a sword any day.
    He bowed. “Good day to you, Miss Mallow.”
    “I told you not to return.”
    “Alas, my business is imperative.”
    His manner was amiable, but that threatened as much as a snarl.
See how confident I am? A well-off and highly born male. What resistance can you offer, you little female mouse?
    Claris suppressed a growl. He’d soon see. Today she had Athena, and the pistol, loaded and ready.
    “Come through to the kitchen. My grandmother is keen to meet you.”
    “The keenness is on both sides. Your paternal grandmother, I understand?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you have grandparents on your mother’s side?”
    Claris wanted to snap that it was none of his business, but pettiness would be weak, not strong. “No, alas. They both died before I was born.” She entered the kitchen relieved to find Athena there. For once she would use the term Athena hated.
    “Grandmother, Mr. Perriam has returned.”
    Athena eyed him without a trace of fear. “A son of the Earl of Hernescroft, I understand.”
    Perriam bowed. “Correct, ma’am.”
    “Full of his own importance, as I remember, and he was a young man then.”
    Claris wanted to applaud. Athena was skillfully establishing her credentials as an equal.
    “We must speak here, sir,” Athena said, taking command, “for we have only the two rooms and I’ve commandeered the front one for my potions.”
    All was going well, but with new eyes she saw how simple the kitchen was. Though it contained some elegant bits and pieces from the rectory, it was their only living space and was both cramped and disorderly. That wasn’t helped by Ellie at one end of the plain table, squeezing cooked damson pulp to remove the stones.
    “Shall I go?” Ellie asked.
    “Of course not,” Athena said, sitting at the other end, the head. “Ellie’s been with me since before my marriage, Perriam, and knows all I know of my family’s affairs. Claris.”
    Claris obeyed her grandmother’s gesture and sat on her right. That put her close to the pistol. Perriam took the seat on Athena’s left. Had Athena’s directions been deliberate? In the Bible, the sheep were to be on God’s right hand and the sinful goats on his left. Claris had always felt that was unfair to goats, but the placement was appropriate for a relentless invader.
    Athena turned to him. “Explain yourself, young man. Your intent to marry Claris is extraordinary and unreasonable, but at first glance you appear to be a rational man.”
    Perriam’s eyes narrowed at this attack, but his smile remained. “I was too abrupt yesterday and apologize for it, though in my defense, Miss Mallow did ask me to be brief.”
    “Because I was busy,” Claris protested. “I’d no notion of such insanity.”
    “I grant you insanity in many aspects of this affair, but permit me to explain. The telling of this story could waste a day, but I’ll do my best to make it brief. As I told you, generations ago the Perriam properties were divided between two sisters, there being no sons to inherit. The older daughter was to pass on the title, so her share of the property would be attached to the title, with its own rules. The property taken by the younger daughter would pass on by will. In order to avoid it being lost to the Perriams forever, it was legally settled that if her line failed to produce a male heir, it would pass back to the senior line. Dry stuff, but essential background.”
    Athena said, “I believe our poor female minds can absorb the facts, wet or dry.”
    Ellie chuckled.
    Perriam’s brows twitched, but if anything he was amused, which wasn’t a good sign. A powerful opponent wasn’t amusing.
    “Giles Perriam died recently,