Married in Haste Read Online Free

possessed…like now.
    “Who is he?”
    Godwin took a pinch of snuff with a dramatic flourish. “The earl of Merton. It’s some obscure Welsh earldom.” He sneezed and blew his nose with a creamy white kerchief. “He’s come to Town in search of a wife. Former military man. Served on the Peninsula until he came into the title. I know very little beyond that, but I’m confident that in time I will know everything.”
    A wife? She glanced at the earl. He was talking to Sir Charles. She wondered if they discussed her.
    Boldly, she said, “Have you been introduced to him, Mr. Godwin?”
    Godwin looked down to where her fingers brushed the fine fabric of his coat and up at her again. “Of course.”
    “I wish to meet him.”
    Godwin’s eyebrows almost rose to his hairline. “You are asking to be introduced to a gentleman? Don’t say that the dashing Miss Hamlin is finally considering making a match?”
    Tess shook her head. “Now, Mr. Godwin, if I told you, then you would know straight out and there is no fun in that, is there?”
    “No, there isn’t,” he agreed, his interest definitely piqued. He raised her gloved hand to his lips. “But then, I have always been yours to command, my dear.” Obviously smelling a story, he practically ran to perform his mission.
    Tess watched him work his way toward Lady Garland. She turned back to the earl. He was watching her again.
    Tess’s heart started beating erratically. She looked away quickly. She knew it was only a matter of time before she met the earl of Merton and she didn’t want to be thought forward.

    From the opposite corner of the room Neil Hamlin studied his tall, beautiful sister. She held her head high looking as if she were the queen of the ton. No, he quickly amended his thought, she looked as if she were the reigning princess. She’d have to be married to be the queen.
    He drained his punch cup in one gulp and reached for another of the brandy-based brew. What was he going to do? He was in a devil of a fix.
    Their late father had trusted him to look after Tess’s inheritance and Neil had tried to be wise with the money. But who knew that such a sizable fortune as Tess’s could be wiped out so completely in such a short amount of time?
    Of course, it would have helped if Tess had married years ago the way their father assumed she would.
    The fortune would have been removed from his responsibility, and then he wouldn’t have these troubles.
    Being the guardian of an heiress was hard work, especially when the heiress was Tess. She was too independent, and yet still naive and in need of his protection.
    When he’d first married Stella, she had urged him to arrange a husband for Tess and move her out of his house. He knew that Stella was jealous of Tess, but he’d hoped she would grow out of it over time. It hadn’t happened. If possible, the situation had grown more touchy.
    This afternoon, Stella had proudly informed him that she was with child—their first, finally!—and had decided that she wanted his sister out from under their roof.
    Neil stared into the bottom of his now-empty punch glass. He’d be ruined if word of what he’d done to Tess’s fortune leaked out. Worse, she’d never make a good match and he’d be stuck with two bickering women the rest of his life. There had to be a way to marry Tess off without the unlucky groom being the wiser.
    But how?
    Chapter Two
    Brenn Owen desperately needed a wife. As the new, improvished earl of Merton, he didn’t care if she was fat, ugly, or old, provided that she was rich.
    He’d rather not marry for money, but he had no choice. Erwynn Keep, the estate he had inherited, was little more than an empty shell of a manor house surrounded by a village full of people who looked to him for their livelihood. The property wasn’t entailed. He could have sold the lot and moved to London, but he wasn’t the kind of man to shirk responsibility.
    Besides, after years of war, he wanted peace. Often