Captured Love Read Online Free Page B

take a wife, I can assure you it will not be any
woman like Miss Divine.”
    Edward laughed. “You have a habit of seeing black and
white, Rupert, while I see the shades of gray in between one and the other.
People have many facets. Not everything is so clear as to be black or white.”
    Rupert glowered at his cousin.
    “So, tell me what Robert, my disreputable brother, has
been up to while I’ve been out of town.” Edward smiled, having obviously
deliberately changed the subject. “What rumors are afoot? Who should I be wary
of, and who must I avoid because he’s slept with their wife?”
    ~
    Meredith skipped into the circle with the other women
while the men clapped, as her eyes were, unwillingly, pulled toward Lord Morton.
She had a constant desire to look at him.
    He stood with his usual manner of cool indifference to
the world, tall and stiff. He was speaking with Lord Edward, and no longer
looking at her. His gaze had quite clearly expressed disgust when he had looked
at her.
    Hugh grasped her arm, capturing her attention again, and
redirected her as she made an error in the dance steps, and nearly moved
completely awry. She blushed as he met her gaze and smiled down at her. Hugh
did not insult her by ignoring her.
    The music slowed and she skipped the last steps. She
was breathless, hot and panting when she stopped. Hugh stepped forward and
gripped her arm. Meredith looked back across her shoulder, intending to look at
Lord Morton again, but before she could, she saw her father.
    He lifted his hand, implying he wished to speak with
her.
      “Would you care
to walk outside?” Hugh whispered, leaning toward Meredith’s ear.
    She mentally sighed. No, Hugh did not cut her as Lord
Morton did; Hugh insulted her by expecting things from her she should not give.
He would not ask the same of Rowena. Rowena, he would wish to marry. Rowena, he
respected. No one in this room respected Meredith.
    Had he not made that offer she might have tried to
avoid her father. But she was in no mood to let Hugh steal a kiss. No matter
how pointless her hopes were regarding the Earl of Morton, she was feeling rejected,
and now that Lord Morton was no longer chaperoning Rowena, Meredith would never
see him. This happy interlude in her life was at an end. One day soon she was
going to have to make a choice to marry someone, and it would be someone she did
not want.
    “My father is beckoning me, Mr.Holland .
Would you take me to him?”
    Hugh looked to confirm what she’d said, and when his
gaze came back to her, it had an edge of irritation. “Oh,
very well then. Perhaps later I could have the supper dance?”
    “I... I am not sure...” She did not wish to dine with Hugh.
She was inclined to torture herself a little more. If she dined with Rowena,
then perhaps Lord Morton would sit with them.
    “Meredith!” Her father’s voice boomed above all others.
It always did.
    She cringed a little as
people about them stared.
    Hugh swiftly bowed and disappeared.
    Her father gripped her elbow tightly and turned her toward
the edge of the room. Once they’d passed through the crowd he found them an
empty sofa in an alcove, and bid her sit. She did, her fingers gripping the
seat cushion beside her thighs as she looked up at him.
    He sat too, sweeping back his coattails before taking
the space beside her.
    He’d never sat with her at a ball before.
      “ Perrigrew has a proposal for you,” he opened without
preamble.
    “For me?” Perrigrew was her father’s
business partner. His wife had passed away six weeks ago. Since then he had
spent a lot time at her father’s house.
    “Yes, it is the perfect idea. I like it quite well,
myself. It would develop a true partnership between us.”
    She was not following what he said, though she watched
his lips. She looked up at his eyes. “I’m sorry, Papa. What proposal?”
    “ A proposal.”
    “A proposal?”
    “Oh child, do not act as though you cannot know. He
has eaten with us several