Degrees of Hope Read Online Free

find distasteful, what is one more?”
    “You make me sound like a curmudgeon,” he said. “There are a few people of our acquaintance that I dislike, I admit it, but that is hardly 'a number'.”
    “You are right, I'm sorry.” Martha smiled. She had been lying with her head on his shoulder, but she pulled away and propped her head up on her hand so that she could see his face.
    “What?” he asked, noting her troubled expression.
    “I just feel bad for Honoria,” she admitted. “Her father arranged this marriage and I think that she is desperately unhappy.”
    “And you think that living here will make her happy?” he asked, confused by her argument.
    “No,” she admitted. “I do however, think that Malcolm's plan in bringing her here to live, is to isolate her from her friends and family. I cannot help but think that if they are on the estate, Honoria will at least have someone sympathetic nearby, and possibly even a friend in Hope.”
    Lucien still wasn't inclined to agree to the sale, but he could see her point.
    “Do we really want to get involved in their marriage?” he asked.
    “We aren't getting involved,” she assured him. “I just want Honoria to know that she has friends around her.”
    “And what if she comes to us, asking us to help her?”
    “Then we help.”
    “We don't have that right,” he said. “A marriage is between a man and a woman. Even if we wanted to, we have no right to intervene.”
    “Perhaps not legally, but morally we do.”
    Lucien just glared at her, upset at the idea of being embroiled in a fight that wasn't his.
    “Darling,” Martha said, leaning down to kiss him gently. “The chances are that we will never be asked to become involved, Honoria is far too dutiful to ever consider leaving her husband, but we can still be a friend to her. And you never know, there is a chance that her quiet ways may rub off on Hope and help to calm her.”
    “We couldn't be that lucky,” Lucien smiled.
    Martha knew that she was winning, and played her trump card. “Please, for me?”
    Lucien sighed, knowing that he had lost this round. “Fine. Tomorrow I will inform Malcolm of our decision and get started on drawing up the deeds.”
    “Thank you.”
    “You owe me,” he said, only half teasing.
    “And how would you like to be repaid, sir?” she asked, coquettishly.
    “I'm sure you'll think of something,” he answered her, a smirk on his lips.
    Martha leaned down and kissed him deeply and when she pulled away, they were both breathing heavily.
    “How's that?” she asked.
    “It's a promising start,” he told her.

Chapter Three
    Over the course of the next two weeks, Hope did her best to befriend Honoria; a task that was made considerably easier when her husband left for London during the week to oversee his business interests, returning on Friday night. Honoria remained reserved but she was much easier to talk to without Malcolm around.
    As soon as Hope's wrist had healed, she took Honoria all around the estate, showing her the plot of land that her husband was interested in. Hope would have been livid if her husband built a house somewhere, without even showing her the land first, but Honoria simply accepted it.
    Overall, Honoria was a very dutiful girl, taking seriously her duty to both her husband and her God and her favourite phrase seemed to be, “It is God's will” or some variation on that theme.
    At the same time however, she seemed to find Hope's abandon quite appealing; watching and laughing as Hope jumped gates on her horse that she had been warned not to, or made a very unladylike joke or observation. Whilst Honoria wasn't going to overstep the moral boundaries placed on her, she seemed perfectly happy to live vicariously through Hope.
    She smiled freely whilst with Hope, and it made her beauty radiate out from her. So much so that Hope thought it a pity that her husband didn't try to make her smile more often.
    As soon as her husband returned, her levity