Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Read Online Free Page B

beneath her dusky blue day gown and smart spencer trimmed in white and gold.  He bit back a smile.  “What makes you say that?”
    “He grasped Miss Carmichael’s many fine qualities before he learned of her connection to the peerage.”
    “Ah, that helps me place your accent.  I suspected that you were an American.”
    She flushed.  “And proud to be so, sir.”
    “Yes, you all do seem to feel that way.”
    Her chin lifted.  “As you are an Englishman, I will defer to your expertise in the area of pride.”
    A direct hit.  He began to warm to the game, despite himself.  “I’m afraid I still don’t understand your connection to the lovely Miss Carmichael.”
    She stiffened.  “The connection of friendship,” she said curtly.
    “Ah.  A friendship of long standing, it must surely be.”
    He awaited her answer, sure he’d caught her—and feeling alive and . .  . stimulated.  It had been a long while since he’d exchanged barbs with a skilled opponent—and longer still since he’d faced one so appealing.
    Her lips pursed and he caught the deepening flush moving across her cheeks. 
    He let his eyes go wide.  “Well, if I had needed a final clue to your heritage, that would have provided it.  You’ve pushed yourself in where you’ve no business, haven’t you?”
    “My heritage is nearly the equal of yours, sir,” she said, indignant.  “My grandfather is Viscount Harley.”
    “How nice for you—and how do you think he would feel about your actions here today?”
    “My actions?  I’ve done nothing here save visit a friend—and make your acquaintance, sir.”  She tossed her head.  “Something tells me that he might object to the latter.”
    He bit back a laugh.  “Tell me, are you a single lady?  Unattached?  Not promised to another?”
    She nodded.
    “Then I doubt he would object.”  He frowned at her.  “Something tells me that you’ve led that poor girl to hope for more than she will receive.”
    “I don’t believe it is for you to decide what Felicity gets or does not, sir.  And if I had any doubt as to whether you were an English snob, that remark would have decided it.”
    “Then we’d be on an even standing, wouldn’t we?”
    She shook her head, dismissing him.  “As Mr. Gardiner appears taken with her charms, perhaps he will also see the benefit of linking his name to her old and respected family.”
    “Ah. Quick enough to switch from American egalitarian to English snobbery when it suits you, are you not?  And in any case, Peter is no mere mister.  He’s my heir—and I’m deuced fond of him.”
    “All very nice for him, I’m sure, but if Mr. Gardiner has half the intellect I suspect he does, then he will not have wasted a moment’s thought on the expectations of being your heir.”
    “Meaning?”  He knew damned well what she meant, but he was vain enough—and curious enough—to wish to hear what she would say.
    She didn’t back down, bless her.  She straightened her shoulders and looked him in the eye. 
    “Meaning that if you are not currently married, then you certainly soon should be.” 
    He took a step closer.  “Is this a roundabout way of asking if I’m a married man, Miss Baylis?”  He leaned in.  “I’m not.”
    She examined him with an appraising eye that set his blood to boiling.  “It is but a statement of fact, my lord.  Look at you.  Tall, titled and full of your own consequence.  Surely you are squarely in the sights of every unmarried debutante of the ton .  And with a fine specimen like you, it could only be that a son and heir, likely a whole strapping brood of a family, will quickly follow.”
    He stared.  “Specimen?  I’ve been called many things over the years, but that’s a first.”
    She bit her lip, clearly a bit stricken.  But only a bit.  “Oh, dear.  That was over the line, wasn’t it?  I must offer my apologies, I suppose.”
    He refused to let her off the hook.  He’d rather watch her