Lady Harriet's Unusual Reward Read Online Free Page A

could not have been more stunned. A husband. He blinked. Then he blinked again as his gaze swept up the young woman seated in front of him, all blue muslin and femininity, biting her lip suggestively in a most innocent fashion. Her eyelids fluttered as if she had shocked herself with the brazenness of her own suggestion.
    Her fingers tangled in the tie of her reticule and she lowered her gaze.
    “It is not for me. It is for my brother, you see.”
    “For your brother?” he choked. “Lady Harriet, I am pretty sure that the Archbishop of Canterbury will not provide a special licence for me to marry your brother. He may be a doddering old fool but even he is not that senile.”
    “No!” The frustration was evident in her voice. “You would marry me. But I need to marry for my brother’s sake.”
    “You do? Who on earth is your brother?”
    “The Earl of Oldbeck.”
    Stephen wracked his brains. He never paid much attention to Debrett’s. His mother and Elizabeth would have known who the hell the Earl of Oldbeck was but he was all at sea on this one. Certainly not someone with whom he had attended Eton. Did she need money? No, that could not be it. She would be the one bringing the dowry. Was she with child? But then why would that affect her brother? Brothers were never troubled by the scandals of their sisters. He narrowed his gaze on her and a flicker of memory came to him. “Ah your brother is William. He is the imbecile, is he not?”
    “Yes.” Her voice was quiet.
    “You do not like that word, do you?”
    “I prefer not to use it, my lord.”
    “Then I apologise for using it.”
    “William cannot count and has difficulty reading. His manners are not always what they should be. He can be loud and brash and is often childish in his understanding of the world. But he is not always as daft as people make him out to be.” Her words were defensive and there was fire in her green eyes. Her chin was raised as she made her little speech. “But he cannot run an estate. He has discovered the fairer sex—Miss Callahan in particular. He says they are in love. She says they are in love too. He will not follow my instructions. He is a child trapped in a man’s body with a man’s… urges and I cannot cope.” Tears welled in her eyes now as her arms waved in front of her.
    The poor girl was nearly having a fit of the vapours and his heart went out to her. He wondered what it would be like trying to deal with Phoebe with her childish wishes to climb trees and feed the ducks but grown up with a woman’s urges to flirt with men and bring them home to her bed. The thought did not bear thinking about. He’d lock her in her bloody room.
    “Can you not send Miss Callahan away? Is she just your companion?”
    “She was the kitchen maid until a few days ago and now she is increasing.”
    “A kitchen maid? Give her a cottage in the village and a stipend and send her on her way.”
    Lady Harriet’s mouth fell open, her eyes wide.
    “You are a brute. Why do men seem to think that everything can be fixed with a dank little cottage and a yearly sum of money? The girl is just like William. She is not able to fend for herself. William loves her. Love is all he has to give.”
    “He has money.”
    “Spoken like a true aristocrat,” she observed tartly.
    Stephen sat back on his seat and studied the young woman in the blue day gown as she removed a handkerchief from her reticule and dabbed her eyes and nose. Once she had composed herself she turned to him.
    “So, my lord, do I take it that you are no longer an honourable gentleman and I am to leave here without my reward for saving your daughter’s life?”
    “Would you let me try to help your brother without marrying you? You need help. I understand that. Perhaps I could honour my vow to you by giving you help with the earl. A guiding hand, as it were. Then if it does not work, I shall indeed marry you as you have asked.”
    “I… I suppose that might work,” Lady