Read Online The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lauren Willig
Tags: Historical Romance
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were no pirates, and I'm quite safe. There was just a small"
"But where were you, you impossible child? You cannot possibly imagine the agonies I've suffered! The hours I have paced this floor "
Mrs. Alsworthy illustrated her statement with a representative turn around the room, which ended abruptly when the flowing end of her nightrobe caught on an uneven piece of flooring, ending her progress with an unfortunate rending noise.
"That would all be very affecting," put in Mr. Alsworthy, as his wife clucked over her ruined peignoir, "if you hadn't awakened a mere ten minutes past."
"Ten minutes? Ten minutes!" Mrs. Alsworthy looked up indignantly from her abused hem. "You cannot reckon how time moves within a mother's heart."
"A curious sort of mathematics, to be sure."
"If you would pardon the interruption "
Geoff neatly sidestepped Letty and strode into the room. Being forced to marry the wrong woman was bad enough; being tortured with a Punch and Judy show in the intermission was more than a man could be expected to bear.
Mrs. Alsworthy shrieked and affected to swoon, and even Mr. Alsworthy momentarily abandoned his customary pose of indolence.
"There, my dear," said Mr. Alsworthy, "is your pirate."
"Don't be absurd, Mr. Alsworthy!" exclaimed Mrs. Alsworthy, taking a step forward to attain a closer look, just in case. "That's not a pirate; that's Lord Pinchingdale. Lord Pinchingdale? Whatever are you doing here?"
Lord Pinchingdale was beginning to seriously consider a career on the high seas.
"I should think that much is clear," replied Mr. Alsworthy, before either Geoff or Letty could say anything at all.
"Why must you always be so provoking?" protested his much put-upon wife. "Saying things are clear when they're not the least bit clear at all. Why, they're as muddy as as "
"A pirate's conscience," put in Mr. Alsworthy, enjoying himself hugely.
"Pirates, pirates what have we to do with pirates?"
"You brought them up."
"I most certainly did not!"
"As fascinating as this is, can we return to the matter at hand?" Geoff's voice cracked through the small foyer, lashing both the Alsworthys into silence. "I have come to request your daughter's hand in marriage."
Chapter Four
The idea of their being married was absurd.
Letty would have said so had she been able to get a word in edgewise, but her mother pipped her to the post. Mrs. Alsworthy clapped her plump hands together. "Dearest Mary will be so pleased!"
"Your daughter Laetitia's hand in marriage," Lord Pinchingdale specified tersely.
"This is quite unnecessary!" protested Letty in her loudest voice.
No one else paid the slightest bit of attention to her.
"Ah." Mr. Alsworthy's heavily pouched eyes moved from his bedraggled daughter to the irate viscount. "Not at all what I expected, but an interesting twist. A very interesting twist, indeed."
"I don't understand." Mrs. Alsworthy wrung her hands in her effort at cogitation. "You wish to marry Letty?"
"No, he doesn't," put in Letty.
"'Wish' might not be exactly the right verb, but it will do for lack of a better. I believe our daughter is compromised, my dear," explained Mr. Alsworthy mildly. "You should be very proud."
Mrs. Alsworthy flung herself at her daughter with a delighted squeal that made the crystals in the chandelier quiver.
"My dearest daughter! My very dearest daughter!"
"Mmmph," said Letty, whose head was buried beneath her mother's ruffles.
"Oh, so many things to do!" Mrs. Alsworthy clutched her new favorite daughter to her beribboned bosom. "The wedding clothes the guest list an announcement in the Morning Times Oh, it is too much happiness!"
"Mother " Letty fought her way free of the clinging ruffles.
The movement was a mistake, since it brought her into full view of Lord Pinchingdale's face, stiff with revulsion. It was enough to make her wish herself into indentured servitude in the farthest antipodes. She wasn't quite sure whether they had indentured servants in the farthest
"But where were you, you impossible child? You cannot possibly imagine the agonies I've suffered! The hours I have paced this floor "
Mrs. Alsworthy illustrated her statement with a representative turn around the room, which ended abruptly when the flowing end of her nightrobe caught on an uneven piece of flooring, ending her progress with an unfortunate rending noise.
"That would all be very affecting," put in Mr. Alsworthy, as his wife clucked over her ruined peignoir, "if you hadn't awakened a mere ten minutes past."
"Ten minutes? Ten minutes!" Mrs. Alsworthy looked up indignantly from her abused hem. "You cannot reckon how time moves within a mother's heart."
"A curious sort of mathematics, to be sure."
"If you would pardon the interruption "
Geoff neatly sidestepped Letty and strode into the room. Being forced to marry the wrong woman was bad enough; being tortured with a Punch and Judy show in the intermission was more than a man could be expected to bear.
Mrs. Alsworthy shrieked and affected to swoon, and even Mr. Alsworthy momentarily abandoned his customary pose of indolence.
"There, my dear," said Mr. Alsworthy, "is your pirate."
"Don't be absurd, Mr. Alsworthy!" exclaimed Mrs. Alsworthy, taking a step forward to attain a closer look, just in case. "That's not a pirate; that's Lord Pinchingdale. Lord Pinchingdale? Whatever are you doing here?"
Lord Pinchingdale was beginning to seriously consider a career on the high seas.
"I should think that much is clear," replied Mr. Alsworthy, before either Geoff or Letty could say anything at all.
"Why must you always be so provoking?" protested his much put-upon wife. "Saying things are clear when they're not the least bit clear at all. Why, they're as muddy as as "
"A pirate's conscience," put in Mr. Alsworthy, enjoying himself hugely.
"Pirates, pirates what have we to do with pirates?"
"You brought them up."
"I most certainly did not!"
"As fascinating as this is, can we return to the matter at hand?" Geoff's voice cracked through the small foyer, lashing both the Alsworthys into silence. "I have come to request your daughter's hand in marriage."
Chapter Four
The idea of their being married was absurd.
Letty would have said so had she been able to get a word in edgewise, but her mother pipped her to the post. Mrs. Alsworthy clapped her plump hands together. "Dearest Mary will be so pleased!"
"Your daughter Laetitia's hand in marriage," Lord Pinchingdale specified tersely.
"This is quite unnecessary!" protested Letty in her loudest voice.
No one else paid the slightest bit of attention to her.
"Ah." Mr. Alsworthy's heavily pouched eyes moved from his bedraggled daughter to the irate viscount. "Not at all what I expected, but an interesting twist. A very interesting twist, indeed."
"I don't understand." Mrs. Alsworthy wrung her hands in her effort at cogitation. "You wish to marry Letty?"
"No, he doesn't," put in Letty.
"'Wish' might not be exactly the right verb, but it will do for lack of a better. I believe our daughter is compromised, my dear," explained Mr. Alsworthy mildly. "You should be very proud."
Mrs. Alsworthy flung herself at her daughter with a delighted squeal that made the crystals in the chandelier quiver.
"My dearest daughter! My very dearest daughter!"
"Mmmph," said Letty, whose head was buried beneath her mother's ruffles.
"Oh, so many things to do!" Mrs. Alsworthy clutched her new favorite daughter to her beribboned bosom. "The wedding clothes the guest list an announcement in the Morning Times Oh, it is too much happiness!"
"Mother " Letty fought her way free of the clinging ruffles.
The movement was a mistake, since it brought her into full view of Lord Pinchingdale's face, stiff with revulsion. It was enough to make her wish herself into indentured servitude in the farthest antipodes. She wasn't quite sure whether they had indentured servants in the farthest
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