Improper Pleasures (The Pleasure Series #1) Read Online Free

disregard Lowell’s last
wishes and deprive Lark and I, as many a new lord is wont to do, you are
mistaken.” Her whole body trembled, but she raised her chin and met his gaze.
    This woman was indeed an unexpected element in the challenge
being presented to him, and he admired her mustered strength. Still, he needed
to keep his focus on what must be done to prevent bankruptcy, somehow manage to
care for everyone at the estate, then decide how he might secure the future of
Eastlan. He hoped he could gather his own strength, and a resistance to her
appeal. Surely it would only distract him from the duty and decisions that lay
ahead.
    The one thing she did need from him was the truth. By her
demeanor, he decided she could handle it. Though part of him hated the fact
that he was the one to bring her the sad truth of the state of affairs.
    He took a deep breath, hoping he could deliver the facts
in the best possible way. “Maybe if someone had looked at the balance
sheets, Eastlan wouldn’t have thirty thousand pounds in unpaid bills. And
that’s just from this year.” 
    “That’s not possible.” She gripped the back of the red
brocade chair with one hand. James couldn’t help wondering how much he could
get for the intricately carved piece of furniture.
    “Perhaps you should take a look around you, Lady Keane.”
James picked up the crystal goblet, glanced at the red velvet drapes that
perfectly matched the color of the chairs. Perhaps she didn’t understand how
different her world was from his. “I’ve never seen such luxury. A single bill
from your dressmaker for that dress is probably more than many men earn in a
year in America.”
    “We have been in mourning. The cost of new gowns was
hardly a luxury but a show of respect.” Her tone was part defiance, part surprise.
    “And what of the beeswax candles?” James blew out all but
one of the candles on his desk just to make his point. He then went around the
room extinguishing the candles on the mantle and the standing candelabrum that
dripped with sparkling hand-cut crystals in the corner. “If you love Eastlan as
much as you say, you’ll have no problem actually living off her fruit, and
lessening the opulence in order to do so. Or are mutton, wool and tallow not to
your liking?”
    “Do you expect Lady Phillina, the daughter of a duke, a
woman who has buried a husband and two sons, to end her days living like a
pauper so you can fatten your purse? Are you that much of a selfish miser, my
American cousin? And what of Lark, Lowell’s only offspring?”
    “There is no money to fatten anyone’s purse. Eastlan is
broke.” He ground his jaw at her insults but didn’t blame her for her
conclusion. Apparently she’d been sheltered from the state of Eastlan’s
affairs. He meant to change that. “Ask Wesley if you don’t believe me.”   
    The shadows cast by the lone candle intensified the
hollows under her eyes, draining the spark from her fierce gaze. He expected a
great deal from her and of course she was empathetic about the others who would
be affected by his decisions.
    “I have no wish for you or your daughter to suffer,” he
said, deliberately softening his tone, “but the truth is that there are no
funds for your settlement. And that is a fact I can’t change.” James stared
into her eyes, watching for the recognition she understood the dire straits
they all were in, then strode back to his chair.
    “I cannot imagine what the wilds of America must be like,
but here in England, we have laws. You may not withhold my inheritance and toss
your predecessor’s family to the wolves.”
    “I never said I was tossing anyone out.” James sank into
his chair weary from the strain of the conversation.
    “No, you just intend to treat us all like indentured
servants, prisoners to your will, starve us of our creature comforts, humiliate
us until we flee for our lives.” She remained standing, stiff as a statue, but
her face had paled considerably.