The Paradise Will Read Online Free Page B

wishes and for Caroline to be so coldly analytical was disconcerting. Surely moral support was worth more than a few pounds on a balance sheet? It appeared it was not and he wondered ironically at her reaction had he lost the opportunity of acquiring Hawkscote or the water rights. Regarding her self-satisfied expression, he knew the answer: she would have been furious. Suddenly, Gil felt deflated and irascible. His brows snapped together; impatience flickered in his gaze.
    ‘I believe you mean that to be a compliment, Caroline,’ he said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
    ‘Of course. You are the most prominent businessman in the area; everyone expects you to be single-minded in pursuit of your interests.’
    ‘Not at the expense of moral considerations, I hope?’
    She did not respond directly; instead, observing, ‘People look to you for guidance and you must act accordingly, even if the outcome is sometimes unpleasant .’
    ‘But never sacrificing, for example, fairness, trust or loyalty? Noblesse oblige – surely that must be your view, knowing your sense of rectitude?’ he pressed, still in an ironic tone.
    ‘I suppose so, although one cannot expect uneducated people to have opinions on the matter,’ she said, grudgingly.
    Mrs Nash uttered an appreciative titter. ‘Very true, my dear.’
    Gil stared. There was a long silence before he said tersely, ‘In my experience, ignorance through lack of education is no bar to understanding right from wrong. Even the simplest creature understands that principle.’
    Caroline’s reply was to smile sweetly and say she looked forward to him dining with them the following day. Gil, finding himself completely out of charity with her, was not sorry to see Caroline and her mother depart a short time later.
    He studied the neat, rolling landscape through the window afterwards with an unseeing gaze and wondered what was wrong with him. He had come to believe Caroline was the sort of wife he needed: calm, ordered, and efficient. Gil was unsure exactly how or when he reached this decision. It had occurred by some sort of osmosis because Caroline was always there and, eventually, it seemed the inevitable outcome. He felt no deep passion or love, but whether this was Caroline’s fault or his own, he did not know; she was not a woman to indulge in displays of affection and he … well, he wondered if he was capable of the passionate relationship enjoyed by others, including his own sister and her husband.
    He had never fallen in love and believed, at two and thirty, he was past doing so. He had desired women in the past and experienced pleasant flirtations, but the deepest part of his being had never been engaged. Perhaps this was simply not a facet of his character and the thought he was not destined for a marriage with love, humour, and desire at its core saddened him.
    So if such a marriage was unattainable, he should settle for what he could achieve. And yet, although he knew Caroline expected him to offer for her, thus far he could not bring himself to utter the words. He found her coldness annoying of late and since his trip to London, he felt even more dissatisfaction. Gil blamed the bizarre details of the will for this and hoped his discontent was temporary. It had to be. He must put his mind to business and, when things were more settled, offer Caroline marriage.
    Meanwhile, he needed to prevent a pair of blue eyes, brimful of amusement and disdain, from continually intruding upon his thoughts.
     

    Unlike his cousin, Piers Kilworth had eagerly anticipated the reading of the will. He waited to be summoned in the weeks following his uncle’s death until one of his creditors – a fellow more pressing and unpleasant than the rest – forced him to decamp hurriedly from his lodgings in St James’s. Thinking it wiser to leave no forwarding address, Piers took full advantage of his friends’ hospitality and rusticated for a month.
    When he returned to find the note from