A Flirtatious Rendezvous: The Gentlemen Next Door #4 - Historical Regency Romance Novellas Read Online Free PDF Page A

waist.
    “I suppose you know the best place to procure ribbons?” he asked.
    She instructed the driver on the shop’s location and turned her gaze back to Hayden. He had fished several crumpled pages from his pocket and had smoothed them out on his lap to study them, his fist tucked under his chin.
    “What is it?” she asked, leaning toward him.
    “Hmmm? Oh…it’s a theorem I have been working on for ages and was just in the middle of…I feel as though there’s an answer at the tip of my tongue.”
    Her eyes crossed and glazed as she stared at the series of numbers and squiggles and scratches that seemed to continue ad infinitum down the pages. “Is it something you haven’t been able to solve?” she asked, unable to imagine such a thing.
    “It’s a problem that no one has solved,” he said a little defensively. “It’s called the Twin Prime theorem.”
    “What do twins have to do with mathematics?”
    “No, see, the numbers are twins.” He pushed a paper toward her so it settled over her lap. “Three and five, five and seven. These are all prime numbers that are separated by one number. And it seems that as numbers become larger and larger, these twin primes still exist.”
    “Do you think they make baby numbers?” she asked playfully.
    “Your imagination is frightening.”
    “Ah, but do you think of it now that I’ve questioned it?” she asked with a grin.
    “The actual question is…can they exist forever? No matter how large the numbers become, will the twin prime numbers continue?”
    “God made them, and if He made them in pairs, he would continue them as such,” Hanna said, shamelessly squirming a little closer. In his distraction, he allowed it.
    “Unfortunately, the Mathematical Society would reject such a simply worded proof. And if they did accept it, it would beg the question, if one could prove God did create the twin primes, why would one also assume they continued?”
    “Because He wouldn’t want them to be lonely. He never intends us to be lonely.”
    Hayden glanced up at her, his eyes questioning before they shaded over with frustration. “You can’t mean that to stand as proof of whether the numbers can exist forever.”
    “But of course I do—of course they can!”
    “There is no of course— either it can be proved or it cannot.”
    “That seems silly. Whether you prove it or not will not change whether it is true.”
    His mouth dropped open, and Hanna noted it was the first time she had rendered him speechless. His expression transformed into a grin, one that lit up his eyes.
    “That may be the most intelligent thing you’ve ever said.”
    “Oh, quick, write it down.” She tapped the paper on her lap and transferred it back to his. “Quickly, before it’s forgotten.”
    He chuckled, but obliged her, taking a pencil from his pocket and scribbling down her words. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why they were intelligent. Some things were just obvious.

Chapter Three
     
     
    Hanna wished she could slow down time. Especially the limited amount of time she was to have with Hayden. If he and his mother had their way, she’d be married off by month’s end.
    “Oh, exquisite!” Lady Landale clasped her hands as she studied Hanna from head to toe. Hanna wore a rose satin dress with slim sleeves and a high waist that made her feel like the long stem of a champagne flute. “And your hair!”
    Her mousy brown hair had been pulled tight into an elegant bun and twined with the green ribbon that Hayden had mentioned in passing reminded him of her eyes. She now owned enough spools to circle London a dozen times.
    She hardly recognized herself in the looking glass. She seemed a soap bubble—and just as easily shattered. If one hair came out of place, one lace undone, the illusion would be over.
    “Thank you,” Hanna said as Lady Landale took her hands. “Your kindness has been priceless.”
    “Nonsense.” Lady Landale rubbed her wrist against her cheek