Read Online What an Earl Wants by Kasey Michaels - Free Book Online Page A

Where
is our baby brother, by the way?”
    “I was unaware Valentine still required a keeper.”
    “Another subject open to debate. But we should at least be
aware of where he is, don’t you think?”
    “Not if we don’t want to know,” Gideon suggested, smiling in
real amusement. “But, to ease your mind, the last I heard he was heading for
some place in Lincolnshire, to lend support to a friend whose father had, to
quote our brother, taken a turn for the worse.”
    “That’s kind of him. So he’s off to be a supporting prop at
some deathbed?”
    “Hardly. The bad turn was financial. His friend merely needed
someone to put up the blunt for his trip home. Naturally, Valentine offered one
of our coaches, and his company on the journey. And probably half his allowance
for this quarter, knowing Val.”
    “He’s a good friend. Or, as Kate often says, a numbskull. She
swears some day that soft heart of his will land him in the briars. Has he ever
said no to an appeal? Then again, considering that ludicrous fribble we’ve got
residing with us now, have you? It’s your soft heart, both you and Val are stuck
with soft hearts. Thankfully, Kate and I escaped the taint.”
    Gideon directed yet another cool, dispassionate stare at his
brother. “Are we done here now?”
    “Oh-ho, speaking of briars,” Max said, putting up his hands in
mocking defense. “How about I leave you to your troubles and be on my way?” He
turned to quit the room, but at the last moment turned back to add, “Thorndyke
told me of your rather unusual visitor this morning. Showed up all unaccompanied
and left in some sort of huff. Spirited, that’s the world Thorny used. Curious.
But she’s not the reason for that long puss, correct?”
    “Goodbye, Max. Safe travels.”
    “I thought as much. Thorndyke said she’s quite the looker. Red
hair. I’ve always been partial to red hair on a woman. I don’t even mind the
freckles. She have freckles, Gideon? Even where the sun doesn’t reach?”
    When Gideon was really angry, he went quiet, the sort of quiet
that could sound, to the object of his anger, much like a loud clashing of
cymbals.
    “Right,” Max said, nodding. “Forgive me. Clearly the lady is
not a subject open to discussion. I’m off to ease the path of true love, Val is
off to be a supporting prop, Kate is steadfastly refusing to leave the estate,
and you’re—well, whatever it is you’re doing, I suppose you’ll let the rest of
us know in your own good time.”
    Once his brother was gone, Gideon rested his chin in his hand
for a full quarter hour, thinking, and then pushed back his chair, giving in to
the inevitable. There was nothing else for it, he had to confront Trixie.
    * * *
    A N HOUR LATER HE WAS cooling his heels in his grandmother’s drawing room in Cavendish
Square, staring down the pair of yellow pug dogs who were eying his highly
polished Hessians as if they would take great pleasure in lifting their legs
against them.
    She’d named the beasts Gog and Magog, after the ancient carved
wooden giants that stood just outside the Guildhall, perhaps because they were
no more than ten inches from ears to paws, or perhaps because she was amused by
the thought the giants were reportedly the product of a coupling of wicked Roman
daughters and the demons then inhabiting Albion, one day to be Britain. To
Trixie, that would explain quite a bit about her fellow citizens of the
realm.
    In any case, Gideon thoroughly detested the dogs and, in
return, they didn’t care a whit what he thought of them. It was rather
lowering....
    “Gideon, my pet, what terrible thing have I done that brings
you to my door?”
    Giving the dogs one last warning look, Gideon got to his feet
to admire Lady Beatrix’s entrance, accomplished, as always, with a mixture of
imperiousness and panache that was the envy of her detractors—all of them
women.
    She was no young girl, but the extraordinary beauty of her
youth had for the most part stayed with