Only an Earl Will Do Read Online Free Page B

Richard laid against him. “What was there to pine over? She married another not long after I left. Lady Newland was a child of my guardian. Nothing more, I assure ye.”
    His cousin raised his brow, considering his words that Henry had to admit sounded false. “She makes a beautiful widow.” He paused. “In fact, all the sisters I’ve been introduced to this evening are striking beyond measure. Lady Newland has three sisters, I’m told, and one brother.”
    Henry nodded, unable to disagree with his cousin on both counts. Elizabeth had always been handsome. The memory of them as children, of the delightful girl who had no qualms attempting anything he or his friends could manage. A girl who hadn’t minded the mud and scrapes of venturing outdoors. He’d loved her even then, although in a different kind of way from the love his affections had morphed into as an adult.
    “Beautiful they may be, but believe me when I say they’re as fickle as snakes if in need or want of something.”
    As if his thoughts conjured her, Elizabeth looked across the room, and their gazes locked. His hands fisted at his sides, and for the life of him he could not look away. How could she have married Newland after promising him only weeks before that she would wait for his return? Yes, his time away equated to two years, but Elizabeth had known his time in America could be lengthy. She’d promised that no matter how many seasons her parents afforded her, she was his.
    So why did Elizabeth do it?
    “Most women are, I find, although that’s what makes the chase all the more enjoyable. Wouldn’t you agree?” Richard nudged him, smiling. “So now that you’re not looking to the striking Lady Newland as a wife, on whom have you set your sights? Father would be pleased to see you settled and happy. You were so focused on gaining a fortune that we thought your heart ceased to beat for the opposite sex in New York.”
    Henry shuddered at the thought of marrying anyone at all. Of course he wasn’t foolish enough not to know he must marry one day, but it wasn’t a priority. Now was the time to enjoy himself. Acquire a mistress perhaps and drown himself between her legs whenever he wanted. “The sole reason I came to America was to gain my fortune and secure my estate. Now that I’ve done that, I can take my time in surveying the diamonds of the ton. And paramount to that, no father can call me an heiress hunter.”
    Richard nodded, his cousin’s gaze fixed on Elizabeth still. Henry frowned, not liking the appreciative glint in his relative’s eyes. “I must say Lady Newland wasn’t cordial to you. In fact, her very finely veiled dislike of your presence was quite obvious.”
    “Yes, but the sentiment was mutual, so my feelings remain intact.” Henry looked about the room, anywhere but where Elizabeth stood, laughing, drinking, her beautiful eyes that once looked upon him with favor now turned toward other gentlemen, all of them more than happy to take whatever she would bestow upon them.
    She was a rich widow, which meant the proprieties in this society no longer applied to her, within reason, of course. If she were not obvious in her regard or affairs, the ton would not care what she got up to behind closed doors. Elizabeth could take a lover, and no one would chastise her for it.
    The image of them beside the lake, of her flushed cheeks and thoroughly kissed mouth, tormented him. Of knowing another man may hear her whispered gasps of pleasure, of taking from her what he’d always thought of as his, near buckled his knees.
    “Who is that gentleman with her now? He seems quite cross.”
    Henry’s lip curled at the sight of the pompous bastard. “Lord Riddledale, Marquis Ridges.”
    Richard laughed. “Your tone tells me all I need to know. You’re not old friends then?”
    “No, not at all. And why the fool thinks Elizabeth would have him is beyond me. He’s old enough to be her father.”
    “You mean Lady Newland.”
    Henry