Carousel of Hearts Read Online Free Page A

the title, and none of us would be called Lady Fairbourne. The title would be in abeyance, and it would stay that way until all of the claims were concentrated in one person again—for example, if one sister had a child, and the other sisters didn’t. Some baronies by writ have been in abeyance for centuries.”
    Seeing Adam’s bemused expression, she said kindly, “It’s all right if you don’t understand. It took the lawyer ages to explain to me.”
    “I can understand why,” Adam said dryly. “So, which are you, Lady Antonia or Lady Fairbourne?”
    “That’s where the fun comes in.” Antonia smiled wickedly. “In one sense, as the daughter of an earl my rank is higher rank than a mere baron.  But Lady Antonia is a courtesy title, while the barony makes me a peer in my own right—one of handful of women in England of whom that can be said. My old friends and servants usually call me Lady Antonia, but Lady Fairbourne is more correct. Burton hasn’t been with me long and is most dreadfully proper, so he always calls me Lady Fairbourne.”
    “Which do you prefer, your ladyship?”
    “Don’t you dare call me your ladyship, Adam!  Or I’ll— I’ll ...” She halted, unable to think of a suitable punishment.
    Adam rose and offered his arm. “Or you’ll what?” he teased.
    “I’ll think of something,” she said darkly.
    “Something wet and slithery, if memory serves me correctly.”
    Antonia squeezed her cousin’s arm, then glanced over to the window seat. “Judith, you will join us?”
    “Are you sure you want me to be playing gooseberry?” her companion asked. “You must have a thousand things to say to one another.”
    Adam looked Judith up and down very carefully. “Not green, not furry. You don’t look in the least like a gooseberry to me.” He offered his other arm. “Do join us, unless you think our reminiscences will be too tedious.”
    Judith laughed as she rose and took his arm. During the leisurely meal that followed, she appreciated Adam Yorke’s efforts to include her in the mealtime conversation. He might adore his cousin, but when he looked at Judith, she felt that he truly saw her and listened seriously to what she said.
    He really was a most attractive man, far more interesting than any of the London gentlemen who had been pursuing Antonia. Even to an observer as partisan as Judith Winslow, it seemed as if Mr. Yorke was good enough for the Baroness Fairbourne.
    A bowl of fruit from the Thornleigh forcing houses was being served when Antonia asked, “By the way, where is your luggage, Adam? Shall I send someone to pick it up at the port?”
    He shook his head. “I’m staying at the Clarendon.”
    Antonia stared at him. “How ridiculous! Of course you’re staying here.”
    “Tony, even with the ferocious chaperonage of Mrs. Winslow, that would be inappropriate.”
    “But you’re family!” She bit her lip, remembering that he now had a life she was not a part of. Adam might consider it rather slow to be staying with his cousin. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t press you. It’s just that I had assumed you would stay with me.”
    “I would like to,” he admitted, “but we are not children anymore, and we are not that nearly related. Besides, there are any number of reasons why too-close association with me would do your reputation no good.”
    Antonia fixed him with a steely glance. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You make too much of something that is of no importance.”
    “I only wish that were true,” Adam murmured.
    Judith watched as the two cousins’ gazes caught and held, feeling the tension between them, as if an old argument were being revived. She wondered what they were talking about, but again, it was none other business.
    “No one would deny that London delights in gossip,” Judith interposed, “but we will be removing to Thornleigh very shortly, and even the highest stickler would not look askance at Mr. Yorke visiting us