His Spoilt Lady Read Online Free

rude. Her only saving grace is her sense of
humour.”
    Sir Thomas
chuckled and said, “Oh come now, her beauty sweetens the list of
her faults surely!” John grinned and nodded affirmation; her beauty
and shapely form were on his mind rather a lot of late. Sir Thomas
sat back, quietly contemplating for a moment or so before
straightening up and leaning forward in his chair.
    “Very well,
John, if you should marry my Linnett, you should know that on my
death everything goes to my daughter and so to you as her husband.
Now for her wedding portion, I will sign over the Tempest and one
quarter of my interest in our company. Well now, John, what do you
say to that?”
    John held up
his hands. “You misunderstand me, Sir. I am much taken with your
daughter. Her beauty is unrivalled and her spirit admirable. It is
just that what I need is a wife who needs must leave all that she
knows and travel across the sea to a new world. I intend to propose
to her, but there is little I can do if she will not have me.”
    Sir Thomas
slapped his knee, “Nonsense! A red-blooded young buck such as
yourself knows how to tame a horse; use that knowledge. Skittish
things horses, much like women I always think! Linnett must be
settled with a man, not some milksop boy who won’t be able to deal
with her hissy fits! I know my gal, John, and she just won’t be
happy unless she can respect her man.”
    “That remains
to be seen, sir; your daughter is not impressed with my presence so
far. As to my wealth, well, our partnership will, I hope, prevail,
whatever the outcome.” John smiled, and Sir Thomas relaxed,
nodding. “Of course, dear boy, of course, however, you are I am
sure, wrong about Linnett’s opinion of you. Why, only this morning
I overheard her speaking to her maid, Lottie. She said you were a
most handsome man and that if she could take a hand in your choice
of dress, she would soon have all the ladies swooning at your
feet.” Both men laughed.
    Sir Thomas had
not been quite truthful with his account of eavesdropping, for what
he failed to add was that the young lady in question had ended by
saying, “The ladies would swoon at his feet, and he no doubt would
simply glare at them for getting in his way, that I assure you
would be the only notice he would take of them!”
    Linnett was the
only daughter of Sir Thomas and his late beloved wife, Arabella.
She was so named for her maternal grandmother and had been
extremely over-indulged by her father. Even the servants were
inclined to spoil the bewitching Linnett. Her mother had been the
toast of London during her coming-out season. A stunning young
woman with a classic pale, blonde, beauty, Linnett had inherited
her mother’s loveliness, along with her amazing green eyes. Her
hair was much darker than her mother’s, a deep honeyed gold. From
her father she had inherited something of a temper, along with his
stubborn determination. She could outride all her friends and many
young men of her acquaintance. She loved her horses, indeed all
horses.
    When she was
only ten, she and two stable lads had stolen four old nags from the
local village horse fair. Actually, the stable lads were unwilling
accomplices, coerced by an avenging Linnett. The horses were in a
terrible condition and would probably have been sold to a knacker’s
yard. Linnett, however, seeing the poor beasts tethered the day
before the horse fair, determined to liberate them from their
plight. In the dead of night, she and her accomplices crept from
the estate and rode into the village. There was nobody about.
Certainly the owner of the ancient nags did not expect anyone to
steal what he had been unable to sell, dragging the sorry creatures
from fair to fair, eventually resenting them any kind of care. The
“horse thieves” simply untethered the ponies and led them home to
Lavenstock Hall.
    Even after the
experienced care of Sir Thomas’s stable hands and a goodly diet of
oats, the poor animals failed to thrive,