A Gentleman Says "I Do" Read Online Free PDF Page B

mentioned about the mother. In fact, I don’t think she was referenced at all.”
    “Now you are straining to swallow a gnat. It was implied. How else could the twins look exactly like another man if the mother hadn’t taken a secret lover in her past?”
    Feeling guilty because she knew he had some ground to stand on with his complaint, yet not wanting to admit it, she was no longer able to sit still. Catalina rose and said, “Surely, Mr. Brentwood, you know my father’s story was not meant to be taken that way. If anything, you are being thin-skinned and making a mountain out of a pebble—no, out of a grain of salt. Surely you know it was not his intention to slander your family.”
    Mr. Brentwood rose, too, and stepped so close to her she thought she heard his heart beating.
    A wrinkle of anger creased his forehead. “No, I don’t know that,” he said.
    “It was only a simple story meant to entertain.”
    “Yes, to entertain all of London at my family’s expense. And you wonder why I am upset?”
    “No one takes seriously what’s printed in the Society section of The Daily Herald . If anyone wants serious news, they will go to the Times or The London Chronicle .”
    He leaned his face in closer to hers and kept his voice low and his tone level as he said, “No, you’re wrong, Miss Crisp. Most everyone who reads that rubbish assumes every word of it is true, and seeing it in print gives legitimacy to the hogwash. What your father wrote revives the gossip that had finally settled down and fuels the scandalmongers to keep it going.”
    “I believe you are wrong, and time will prove that to you. In less than a month this story will be all but forgotten.”
    “I hope you are right, Miss Crisp, because it amazes me that anyone could actually think Matson and I would approve of a parody that casts a shameful light on our mother. Tell me, Miss Crisp, how would you be feeling right now if some fashion of A Tale of Three Gentlemen had been written about your family?”
    “Oh, but my mother wouldn’t—” Catalina caught herself and clamped her mouth shut quickly.
    He leaned in so close his nose almost touched hers. “Your mother wouldn’t what, Miss Crisp?”
    “Nothing, nothing. I was just… I mean I wasn’t thinking.”
    Suddenly her entire body seemed to go still. She couldn’t believe what she had almost said. Surely it went beyond the pale of decency to say her mother never would have taken a lover. She was horrified she had allowed his goading to rile her to that point. She was usually so calm, knowing exactly how to handle the biggest of problems without getting flustered or angry. Mr. Brentwood was right. The parody should never have been written, and she was sorry and upset for her part in seeing it published. She was going to do everything possible to see that the rest of the story never made it to the streets.
    He watched her, studied her hard as if he was absorbing every detail of her face, before slowly letting his gaze sweep down her neck to the crest of her breasts rising and falling with each choppy breath. His eyes lifted to hers again, and for a brief moment, she had the distinct feeling his lips were going to touch hers.
    He quietly asked, “Does your father know what a strong advocate you are for him?”
    She appreciated that, for the time being at least, he was letting her insensitive remark pass.
    “What do you expect of me when you say you want to harm him?”
    “That’s not what I said. It’s not that I want to, but that I will if he publishes anything more about my family. I protect my own.”
    She believed him but couldn’t back down from her strong stance now.
    “And I will protect my father as fiercely as you protect your family.”
    All of a sudden, he reached out and caressed down her cheek with the backs of his fingers before letting his knuckles lightly skim back and forth across her lips. His hand was warm and his touch tender. A thrilling tingle of something she’d