Read Online Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online

possessions that money can buy. Let me see. What is my greatest dream?”
    He folded his arms and thought. And then Claudia, glancing at him, saw his eyes smile.
    â€œAh,” he said. “Love. I dream of love, of a family—wife and children—which is as close and as dear to me as the beating of my own heart.”
    The girls were charmed. Edna sighed soulfully and Flora clasped her hands to her bosom. Claudia looked on with skepticism. His answer had very obviously been crafted for their benefit. It was, in fact, utter drivel and not a genuine dream at all.
    â€œAnd you, Miss Martin?” he asked, turning his laughing eyes on her and making her wonder for an unguarded moment what it might feel like to be nearer and dearer to his heart than its own beating.
    â€œMe?”
she said, touching a hand to her bosom. “Oh, I have no dreams. And any I did have are already fulfilled. I have my school and my pupils and my teachers. They are a dream come true.”
    â€œAh, but a fulfilled dream is not allowed,” he said. “Is it, young ladies?”
    â€œNo,” Flora said.
    â€œNo, miss. Come on,” Edna said at the same moment.
    â€œThis game must be played by the rules,” the Marquess of Attingsborough added, resettling his shoulders so that he could look more directly at her. His eyes looked very blue indeed from this distance.
    What
game?
What
rules? But she had been undeniably interested in hearing from the other three, Claudia conceded. Now it was time to be a good sport.
    She felt very resentful, though.
    â€œOh, let me see,” she said, and willed herself not to flush or otherwise get flustered. This was remarkably embarrassing before two of her pupils and an aristocratic gentleman.
    â€œWe will wait,” the marquess said. “Will we not, young ladies?”
    â€œYes,” Edna and Flora said together.
    â€œWe have all the time in the world,” he added.
    â€œOh,” Claudia said at last, “my dream. Yes, it is to live in the country again in a small cottage. With a thatched roof and hollyhocks and daffodils and roses in the garden. Each in their season, of course.”
    â€œ
Alone,
Miss Martin?”
    She looked unwillingly into his eyes and could see that he was enjoying himself immensely at her expense. He was even smiling fully and showing his white, perfectly shaped teeth. If there was a more annoying gentleman in existence, she certainly did not wish to meet him.
    â€œWell, perhaps,” she added, “I would have a little
dog
.” And she raised her eyebrows and allowed her eyes to laugh back into his for a moment while mentally daring him to press her further on the subject.
    He held her glance and chuckled softly while Edna clapped her hands.
    â€œWe used to have a dog,” she cried. “I loved him of all things. I think I must have one in my bookshop.”
    â€œI want horses,” Flora said. “A whole stableful of them. One for each day of the week. With red, jingling bridles.”
    â€œAh,” the marquess said, finally shifting the focus of his eyes so that he was looking out through the window on Claudia’s side, “I see that the rain has stopped. There is even a patch of blue sky over there, but you had better look quickly or you may miss it.”
    He half stood and leaned forward to rap on the front panel, and the carriage drew to a halt.
    â€œI shall return to my horse,” he said, “and allow you ladies some privacy again.”
    â€œAh,” Edna said with obvious regret and then blushed and looked self-conscious.
    â€œMy sentiments exactly,” he said. “This has been a pleasant hour indeed.”
    After he had got out and closed the door behind him, the smell of his cologne lingered but the animation that had buoyed them all while he was there drained away and left the carriage feeling damp and half empty. Was it always thus when one was in male company, Claudia