In the Wake of the Wind Read Online Free

behalf,” Aiden said frigidly. “I also find it interesting that you never bothered to inform me of it. I think that my forthcoming marriage would have been of some slight interest to me.”
    “I was only waiting until I thought you were ready for marriage,” Lord Delaware said defensively. “I hoped you would court her, see if she suited you. I planned to give you a gentle push in the right direction.”
    “Rubbish,” Aiden spat out, glaring at him. “I know you too well to believe that story for an instant. If that’s what you’d had in mind, Serafina Segrave’s name would have come up on every occasion you could find to mention it over the last eleven years.”
    Lord Delaware shifted uncomfortably under Aiden’s unrelenting gaze. “Oh, very well. The girl disappeared with her aunt, and I confess I forgot about her. Out of sight, out of mind.” He attempted a weak laugh, instantly suppressed by the daggers in Aiden’s eyes.
    “Let’s see if I have this right,” Aiden said, pressing his fingers against his temples as if that could stifle the pounding headache that had taken up residence there. “You conveniently forgot all about a promise you made a dying man, just as you forgot all about his daughter until the need for a substantial amount of money drove them both back into your mind?”
    “Well, yes. I was going through some old papers in the hope of finding a way out of our difficulties, and there it was,” he continued, looking acutely embarrassed now that the full truth was finally coming out. “Segrave had drawn up a suggested marital contract before he died, along with a list of his daughter’s assets. I hadn’t bothered to read it at the time, but as I told you, her assets are more than enough to get us out of our present difficulties. We should be thankful that she hasn’t been snapped up by someone else before this.”
    “I wonder why,” Aiden said tightly. “Or did you also forget to mention that she has two heads?”
    “Well …” his father said, avoiding Aiden’s eyes.
    “Oh, God,” Aiden groaned, his chest tightening with severe alarm. “What else haven’t you told me, Father?”
    Lord Delaware scratched his cheek. “I suppose I might as well prepare you, since you’ll see for yourself soon enough.”
    Aiden closed his eyes.
    “She isn’t the most—well, the most attractive girl,” Lord Delaware said. “I only met her that once, mind you, but I had quite a shock as both her parents were so handsome, and she was, er—not so fortunate in her looks.”
    “You’re saying she’s ugly.” Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking he surely was having a bad dream. Nothing he’d done in his twenty-eight years, no matter how terrible, warranted this horrific fate.
    “Um, yes, yes I’m afraid I am. She’s rather sallow and pinched looking with bulging eyes and bad teeth and an awkward, knobby body. But you needn’t look at her very often, Aiden. I’m sure you can put her in the east wing or some such thing.”
    “That’s your remedy for this preposterous marriage?” Aiden choked out. “You throw an ugly heiress at me and you suggest I lock her away in the east wing for the rest of her days?”
    “I don’t know what else you’re going to do with her,” Lord Delaware said helplessly. “I don’t think you’ll want to parade her around London. On top of being ugly, she’s not very personable—rather sullen and taken to listening at keyholes, actually.”
    Aiden covered his face with his hands. “Oh, my God,” he moaned. “Oh, my God.”
    “I can understand why her aunt is so anxious to see her married, and I gather the girl is just as anxious. Apparently there have been no other suitors, despite her inheritance,” Lord Delaware said, shaking his head sadly. “I expect you see now why I didn’t intend to honor the agreement. But trust me, my boy, there is no other solution. Serafina Segrave is our only hope.”
    Aiden scrubbed his hands over his