Married in Haste Read Online Free Page B

word ‘rich?’ The woman is as deadly as a cobra. She mesmerizes men and then poisons them for life.”
    His words intrigued Brenn. He dropped his voice. “Is she wicked?” he asked with delicious anticipation.
    “Think with your big head and not your small one,” the older man said bluntly. “We are talking about a wife here. The gel’s never been touched, but she’s still not for you. Tess Hamlin was spoiled by her late father. He was a dear friend of mine but lacking sense when it came to his daughter. Both his children really. He has a son—silly lad…but not as selfish as his sister. The chit inherited money from her mother who passed away over a decade ago. I’m not surprised Miss Hamlin hasn’t married. She thinks too highly of herself, too highly indeed.”
    Brenn couldn’t help laughing. “Well, if I was rich, I’d be choosy too.”
    “It is more than being choosy. She toys with men as if all of this—” The wave of his hand encompassed the ballroom. “—was nothing more than a game.” He pulled Brenn a step or two closer to the terrace door where they wouldn’t be overheard. “She turned the marquess of Redgrave down last month. The man’s a good friend of mine and he was besotted with her, had been for years. Recently, she had given him cause to hope. She’d smile at him—” He gritted his teeth in a poor imitation of a girlish “come hither”
    grin. “—and flash her pretty blue eyes.” He batted his rheumy ones. “Why, Redgrave’s head was spinning like a top, and he’s almost as old as myself!”
    “What happened?”
    “He made an offer, fully believing that it would be accepted. Turns out the girl was just playing fast and loose. Oh, she begged off prettily enough, but the answer was still the same: no. Redgrave was devastated by her rejection. He left London immediately. Couldn’t face all of us—and he is a man of the world like myself. Not some young buck like you who wears his heart on his sleeve.”
    Brenn, who was one and thirty, was amused by Sir Charles’s verdict. “I think I can take care of myself.”
    Sir Charles stabbed a finger at him. “In combat you have no peer…but this is a different battlefield—and that girl is a crack marksman!”
    Brenn almost roared with laughter.

    “I’m not being funny,” Sir Charles asserted.
    “It didn’t think you were. It’s just that I had this image in my head of the girl in full military regalia taking aim at us poor men on the dance floor.”
    Sir Charles snapped his fingers. “Yes, that’s just what it is like,” he agreed without humor. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she kept a tally of the hearts she has stolen.”
    “Now that’s ridicu—”
    “Lord Merton, Sir Charles,” Lady Garland’s trilling voice interrupted them. “I am so glad I found you.”
    “Didn’t know we were lost,” Sir Charles said grumpily.
    Lady Garland laughed and swatted him on the arm with her ivory fan. “Such a dear you are. Cheeky, cheeky, cheeky. But I’ve actually come in search of our young earl. There is someone I especially wish to introduce to you, my lord.”
    She didn’t wait for Brenn’s answer but took his arm and started to steer him away. “Have a glass of punch, Sir Charles, and I’ll return the earl in a thrice.” She then gave him her back before Sir Charles could answer.
    “I know you and he are close,” she whispered to Brenn, “but I find him a bit trying.”
    Brenn merely smiled his answer. He placed Lady Garland’s arm in the crook of his which made walking easier, especially with his limp. “Where are you taking me?”
    “You’ll see,” she answered with a cryptic smile and directed him toward a group of men. She tapped the back of the nearest man with her fan. He shifted and Brenn found himself face-to-face with the lovely Miss Hamlin.
    “Shoo! Shoo!” Lady Garland said, waving the other gentlemen away as if slapping flies. “I wish a moment alone with Miss Hamlin.”
    They had no