A Comfortable Wife Read Online Free

indeed. I haven’t forgotten what happened when I invited Miss Locksby and her family for a week and promised them Philip would be here—remember?” She shuddered. “He took one look, not at Miss Locksby but at her mother, then recalled a prior engagement at Belvoir. Such a coil—I spent the entire week trying to make amends.” Henrietta sighed. “The worst of it was that after that week I couldn’t help but feel grateful he wouldn’t marry Miss Locksby—I could never have borne Mrs Locksby as a relative.”
    A sound suspiciously like a smothered snort came from Trant.
    “Yes, well.” Henrietta fluffed her shawls. “You may be sure that I understand that we must go carefully in this—and not just because of Ruthven. I warn you, Trant, if Antonia gets any inkling of my active interest, she’s likely to…to…well, at the very least, she’s likely to become uncooperative.”
    Trant nodded. “Aye. She likes running in harness no more’n he.”
    “Exactly. But whether they like it or not, I see this as my duty, Trant. As I’ve said before, I don’t believe it’s my place to criticize Ruthven, but in this particular area I feel he’s allowing his natural indolence to lead him to neglect his obligations to his name and to the family. He must marry and set up his nursery—he’s thirty-four years gone and has shown no signs whatever of succumbing to Cupid’s darts.”
    “Mind you,” Henrietta declared, warming to her theme, “I freely admit that susceptibility on his part would be themost desirable avenue to pursue, but we cannot base our plans on improbabilities. No! We must do what we can to, very tactfully, promote a match between them. Antonia is now my responsibility, whatever she may think. And as for Ruthven—” Henrietta paused to lay a hand on her ample bosom “—I consider it my sacred duty to his sainted father to see him comfortably established.”

Chapter Two
    A t precisely six o’clock, Philip stood before the mirror above the mantelpiece in the drawing-room, idly checking his cravat. It was the household’s habit to gather there during the half-hour preceding dinner; Henrietta, however, rarely made it down much in advance of Fenton’s appearance.
    Focusing on his reflection, Philip grimaced. Dropping his hands, he surveyed the room. When no distraction offered, he fell to pacing.
    The latch clicked. Philip halted, straightening, conscious of a surge of expectation—which remained unfulfilled. A boy—or was it a young man?—came diffidently into the room. He stopped when he saw him.
    “Er…who are you?”
    “I believe that’s my line.” Philip took in the wide hazel eyes and the thick thatch of wavy blonde hair. “Antonia’s brother?”
    The youth blushed. “You must be Ruthven.” He blushed even more when Philip inclined his head. “I’m sorry—that is, yes, I’m Geoffrey Mannering. I’m staying here, you know.” The boy stuck out his hand, then, in a paroxysm of uncertainty, very nearly pulled it back.
    Philip solved the problem by grasping it firmly. “I didn’tknow,” he said, releasing Geoffrey’s hand. “But had I considered the matter, I should, undoubtedly, have guessed.” Studying the boy’s open face, he raised a brow. “I presume your sister felt she needed to keep you under her wing?”
    Geoffrey grimaced. “Exactly.” His eyes met Philip’s and he promptly blushed again. “Not that she’s not probably right, of course. I dare say it would have been dev—” he caught himself up “— deuced slow staying at Mannering by myself.”
    Rapidly revising his estimates of Geoffrey’s age downwards and his intelligence upwards, Philip inclined his head. The boy had the same ivory skin Antonia possessed, likewise untouched by the sun—strange in one of his years. “Are you down for the summer?”
    Geoffrey flushed yet again, but this time with gratification. “I haven’t actually gone up yet. Next term.”
    “You’ve gained