Beggars and Choosers Read Online Free Page A

give Mansel and Sali an opportunity to arrange all that needs to be organised,’ Edyth interposed.
    â€˜Long?’ Harry laughed. ‘How can you call seven months long, Aunt Edyth?’
    â€˜I was engaged for three weeks before I married Gwilym, but then,’ Edyth turned to Sali, ‘fewer things were expected and demanded of women in those days. I agree it’s just as well that Sali finishes her education. The wife of Mansel James will have many duties to carry out and for the town’s benefit as well as her husband’s.’
    â€˜Morgan?’ Harry looked up as his brother-in-law walked into the room without knocking.
    â€˜Forgive me. I presumed the room was unoccupied. I was looking for somewhere quiet to sit. The drawing room is full of ladies, card players are in the library, and the buffet is laid out in the dining room.’
    â€˜The morning room should be quiet, Morgan.’ Harry pulled his watch fob from his pocket and singled out a key. ‘Ladies, Gentleman, it is time we returned to the party.’
    He waited until everyone had dispersed before leaving his study and ostentatiously locking it.
    â€˜Wonderful ball, Harry.’ Edyth James kissed Harry, then Sali. ‘See me to my carriage, Geraint.’
    â€˜I would be honoured, Aunt Edyth.’
    â€˜You taking flirting lessons from Mansel, Geraint?’ Edyth tapped his arm with her fan.
    â€˜Mr Watkin Jones,’ Mansel stood in front of Harry and Sali in the deserted hallway, ‘may I take Miss Watkin Jones riding in Aunt Edyth’s fields after chapel tomorrow? We have a great deal to discuss.’
    â€˜I am sure you do, Mansel,’ Harry said dryly. ‘You and Sali have my permission to go riding after chapel and you can tell Aunt Edyth from me, that now she has had her way and you two are unofficially engaged, she can stop her scheming. There are no overbearing Victorian fathers or wicked ogres on the horizon to blight your happiness.’
    Sali relaxed her hold on the reins and gave her horse his head as she approached the gate. Lancelot cleared it and she reined him in, waiting for Mansel to catch up with her. It was a cold, crisp day with a hint of frost in the air that had hardened the ground, making it easy-going for the horses.
    â€˜That was grossly unfair, you had a two-minute start,’ Mansel complained after jumping his stallion, Brutus, over the gate and drawing alongside her.
    â€˜You should check your stirrups are the right length before you leave the stable.’ She leaned forward and stroked Lancelot’s neck.
    â€˜Back along the lane?’
    â€˜Had enough of racing?’
    â€˜I’d prefer to talk to you than race after you. We have a lot of decisions to make.’
    â€˜Like?’
    â€˜What kind of wedding we’re going to have, how many flowers, bridesmaids, hymns, where we’re going on our honeymoon, where we’re going to live, how many personal maids you need ...’
    â€˜Considering I have none in college, one is more than enough.’
    â€˜You will need more when the grey hairs and wrinkles start appearing,’ he joked.
    â€˜By then you will be bald and toothless, so you won’t mind having a grey-haired, wrinkled wife.’
    â€˜You’ll never be old.’ He drew his horse closer to hers and laid his leather-gloved hand over hers. ‘I looked around the house yesterday.’
    â€˜What house?’ she asked in confusion.
    â€˜Ynysangharad House.’
    â€˜Mansel, you’ve lived there since you were six years old. If you don’t know it by now, you never will.’
    â€˜Sometimes, you need to take a fresh look at your surroundings. Do you realise there’s a whole wing closed off with eight large rooms that are never used?’
    â€˜I thought there’d be more.’
    â€˜And they aren’t small. One would make a superb drawing room, another a dining room that could comfortably