A Kiss from the Heart Read Online Free Page B

would have been around that hour, my Lady.”
    It was mid-afternoon when he finally showed his face.
    His mother was seated in the drawing room with her embroidery when he entered, blinking against the light.
    â€œMust you have it so dashed bright in here, Mama? It reminds me of the stage at the Lyceum !”
    She shuddered as she noted the theatrical reference. She had ears enough to note the gossip that her son had been consorting with low actresses.
    â€œIt is a beautiful day outside and you should be out in the fresh air and not in here, Robert!”
    She looked up at him with a stern gaze.
    Her son’s face bore all the marks of a debauched evening. His cool blue eyes were bloodshot and there were marked pouches beneath them. His skin no longer lightly tanned but sallow and lined.
    Had she not known that he was twenty-six years of age, she would have taken him for a much older man.
    â€œRobert, there is a matter I wish to speak to you about,” she began. “It is high time that you shouldered the responsibilities that come with your title and take the yoke from Alec.”
    â€œBut Alec enjoys it!” he protested with a careless shrug. “It makes him feel important. I would not take that small joy away from him.”
    His tone was so sarcastic and unbecoming, it made her wince to hear such world-weariness in his voice and it pained her that he seemed utterly disinterested in his duties.
    â€œRobert, the time has come for me to put my foot down. You are the Earl – not Alec – and it is not right that he should continue to run the estates while you idle away your days on questionable pursuits. Do you realise how your reputation could affect the ability of your sisters to attain a good match? They are now about to undertake a Grand Tour of Europe and I cannot allow their chances to be ruined by you.”
    â€œEmmeline and Alicia will have no trouble finding husbands, Mama – ”
    The Countess cut him dead.
    â€œâ€˜ Honour thy father and thy mother ” it says in the Good Book,” she said in an icy tone. “These days, I do not see much of that from you, Robert. No, I have decided. It is high time you found yourself a wife and settled down. All your friends are either engaged or married and some have children and it is your duty to provide heirs!”
    There was now a stony silence as he regarded his mother. It had been a long while since he had seen her look so stern.
    Crushed with the weight of her expectations and a little guilty for the way he had been conducting himself, he reverted to his childhood and threw a fit of temper.
    He glared at his mother and spat,
    â€œTo the devil with all that! I have no intention of marrying!”
    Before she could reply, he had spun on his heel and left the room, his body tense with anger, his fists urgently seeking something or someone on which to vent his rage.
    The Countess felt shaken by their encounter, but his petulant attitude only strengthened her resolve. She quietly folded up her embroidery and walked to the study.
    If Robert would not marry of his own volition, then it was up to her to force the hand of fate – and she knew just the person who would aid her.
    She was pleased to see that in the study everything was as it should be – a new pen was by the inkwell and there was a stack of fresh paper.
    Taking a sheet she began to write,
    â€œDearest Florence – ”

CHAPTER TWO
    The Countess wrote fluidly for half an hour.
    She was most careful over her choice of words, as so much rested on the effect that her letter would have on Lady Florence Waterton.
    She had been introduced to the twenty-five year old wealthy widow a few years earlier in 1878, when she had undertaken a trip to Biarritz without her husband.
    He had been occupied with an important Bill in the House of Lords and so had exhorted her to go on her own accompanied by her lady’s maid.
    Lady Florence was also travelling