Miss Richardson Comes Of Age (Zebra Regency Romance) Read Online Free Page B

and you can rusticate at Rolsbury Manor.”
    Silence reigned as Thorne wrote out a bank draft for the sum Luke had named.
    “There.” He handed the draft to the younger man. “We will speak no more of this.”
    “I insist on giving you an IOU,” Luke said, sounding very stiff.
    “That is not necessary.”
    “I think it is.”
    Luke rose and reached for paper and pen to scratch out the note of indebtedness. Thorne hid both his surprise and his approbation.
    “Now. Is that all?” Luke asked, still standing.
    “No. Sit down, please.” Luke sat on the edge of the chair, his hands on his knees, and waited for Thorne to continue.
    Thorne deliberated, wondering how best to approach a more sensitive subject. Head-on, of course, he answered himself. “I want to know about this chit you have been making a cake of yourself over.”
    “How did you know—? Ah, I know. Aunt Dorothy. I suppose she couldn’t wait to tattle to the family patriarch.”
    “So, it is true, then?”
    “How am I to know if what you heard is the truth?”
    “Try not to equivocate. Did you offer for the girl knowing full well you would need my approval for such an action?”
    “Well . . . yes. But in six months I will not require your permission to marry. I shall be of age then.” There was a note of triumph in Luke’s tone.
    “You think to support a wife— and maintain your manner of living—” Thorne gestured to the bills on his desk—“on the allowance you receive as a bachelor?”
    “I thought . . .”
    “You and your ladybird thought I would be forced to accept a fait accompli —is that it?”
    “Not exactly. And she is not my ladybird.”
    “Well, what is she then? Aunt Dorothy reports that your Miss Richardson has been on the town for three Seasons, and now she seeks to attach a green boy? You will eventually come into a comfortable fortune.”
    “It is not like that at all. Lord! You really should come to town once in awhile. Ever since Waterloo you have been a recluse at the Manor. You need to get out more, brother dear.”
    “Perhaps I do—if only to keep you from making a fool of yourself. However, you forget—I was here just last autumn for the Queen’s trial.” Had it really been less than a year, he wondered, since the king had tried to enlist the aid of Parliament in ridding his royal self of his estranged wife?
    “Only because all peers were required to be here—or pay a huge fine.”
    Thorne made no reply to this. It was, after all, the truth.
    Luke went on, “And even then, you never went out. Why, you even went back home during that recess they had between the king’s accusation and her defense. I would wager you came this year only because you are required to take part in the coronation.”
    “Well, that would be yet another wager you would lose.”
    Luke colored slightly at this none-too-subtle reminder. “Then why did you come now? It is a good two months and more until the coronation.”
    “There are a few other matters of concern to the country besides celebrating the accession of the fourth George to the throne.”
    Luke gaped at him openly. “You came to town to take an active role in Parliament?”
    “Partly. And to ensure that you are not bamboozled into an ill-advised marriage.”
    Luke’s color deepened. “Well, you need not concern yourself with that. She turned me down.”
    Thorne raised his brows at this. “Did she now? Well, that is a common ploy of females. Unusual in a fortune hunter, though.”
    Luke, apparently fuming over the entire conversation, simply gave him a tight little smile and did not respond verbally. There was a moment of silence during which Thorne wondered what was really going on in his brother’s mind.
    “Will that be all?” Luke finally asked.
    “Yes. You may go. But do think twice before you propose again.”
    “I told you she refused me.” Luke quickly made his escape.
    Thorne sat back in his chair and again rubbed his thigh where a French musket ball had