Read Online The Duke and the Lady in Red by Lorraine Heath - Free Book Online Page A

she may be the most unpretentious woman I’ve ever met.”
    â€œWho is she?”
    â€œYou won’t know her. She doesn’t run around in your circles.”
    â€œYou would be surprised by how wide my circles are these days.”
    That much was true. She met a good many commoners through her husband. “Mrs. Rosalind Sharpe.”
    â€œA married woman?”
    He heard the disappointment in her voice, and it pricked that she would suspect the worst. He didn’t know why, because he had entertained married women on occasion, so his mother’s assumption was valid. “Widowed.”
    â€œOld?”
    â€œYoung.”
    â€œDark?”
    â€œFair. She’s new to London.”
    â€œMarvelous. I’m hosting a dinner party Thursday next. I stopped by to issue an invitation. You should bring her.”
    â€œMy relationship with her—­or what I intend for my relationship with her to be—­is not something to which you want to expose your other children.”
    His mother looked at him for long assessing moments that made him want to squirm in his chair. “I know you’re searching for something, Whit. I wish I knew what the devil it was.”
    So did he, but he hadn’t a bloody clue.

 
    Chapter 5
    â€œA horse? What you be needing a horse for?” Merrick asked.
    Rose watched as her coachman, Joseph, examined the beautiful white mare. Mr. Slattery, who had just delivered it, was standing off to the side out of earshot, thank goodness, as Merrick had no command of dulcet tones.
    â€œFor rides in the park,” she answered softly.
    â€œYou’ve got two legs. They seem to work well enough.”
    She sighed with exasperation and bent down until she was on eye level with him. “Honestly, Merrick, you do try my patience. I intend for this to be our last haul for a while and I need to make it count. In order for that happen, I’m required to project a certain image. If you must discuss this, we’ll do it later.”
    She straightened as Joseph turned away from the horse and winked at her. “She’s good.”
    Smiling, she trod across the ground behind her residence where a small stable and livery was kept. She held out her hand. “Thank you, Mr. Slattery. I shall notify Mr. Beckwith to send you the funds with interest as soon as he has finished settling my husband’s estate.”
    â€œThank you, m’um,” he said, tipping his hat to her before he left.
    She saw no reason to alert him that her solicitor had stopped by that morning to inform her that he was having a dreadful time locating the ­people with whom he needed to speak in India in order to settle the estate and ensure she received all her husband had left to her. Over tea, she had flattered him for his determined efforts and encouraged him not to give up. He was her last hope in acquiring what was rightfully hers. She knew it was a nuisance having to work with foreigners, but there you had it.
    He had reiterated that she was to send any merchants his way so that he could assure them her credit was good and payment would be forthcoming. She had also convinced him to lend her two thousand pounds in cash for anything for which she could not be billed. After all, a woman alone in the world could not be expected to get by with no coin whatsoever.
    â€œJoseph, saddle her up for me, will you?” she asked. “I’m going to change into my riding habit and then I’ll be off.”
    â€œI don’t like this,” Merrick muttered as they walked to the house.
    â€œYou don’t have to.”
    â€œIt just seems that this time you’re taking a lot more risks.”
    â€œFor greater rewards.” Stopping, she faced him. “He’s not like the others, Merrick. He can’t be won over with flattery or words designed to puff up his pride. It’s a very different sort of web I’m weaving. It requires more finesse, a more