A Heart's Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

but she’d begun to wonder if that were the case. Of course, he was young, only three-and-twenty, and that was an uncertain age for a man, so Papa had explained repeatedly. Still, Michael’s indolent courtship seemed increasingly worrisome.
    She herself was only nineteen, the youngest among them, and a little concerned that in her first season she’d not “taken.” That probably added to her not at all liking the thought of the betrothal dissolving—oh, but surely it would not, that kind of thing just was not done. A man’s promise was a solid thing. And yet, the opposite thought of Michael and Summer moving ahead into a loveless marriage was just as terrible. Worse, perhaps.
    Well, maybe this unplanned jaunt into the country would help. They would all be together a great deal, in a new setting. Sometimes romance flowered under such circumstances, or so she’d read in novels. Perhaps she could arrange for the two of them to be alone sometimes. Perhaps Michael just needed to stop and think, and be with Summer a little, to see her in a fresh light. One could get too comfortable in a relationship, so Papa said. Yes, yes, she would have to be sure that the couple had some special time alone in the next few weeks.
    Another man rode past her window, and Genevieve allowed herself to gaze freely at him, since he’d not looked her way: Xavier. She’d admired Penelope’s older brother for years…or perhaps “admired” wasn’t quite the right word. She’d watched him with a mix of intrigue—there was a kind of mysterious air about him, a kind of reserve. Too, she felt some pity—although she’d known him so long that pity wasn’t an accurate word either.
    He was…he was polite, and kind, and well-spoken, and—she admitted it freely to herself—rather handsome, eye patch or no. She’d call him the perfect gentleman…except for a certain dourness that stole over him at times. Yet “dourness” wasn’t quite the proper word, either. Sadness? Withdrawal? Whatever word that meant when a person pulls away and their eyes go blank and conversation turns icy cold.
    But that reserved aspect of his being was a part of his charm, too. Curious.
    Well now, that was the generally accurate word; she’d long been curious about Xavier. How had he lost the use of his eye anyway? Strange that she didn’t know the tale of it. But her interest wasn’t so much about the eye—it wasn’t as though the sight of a scar or an eye patch was rare in London—but her curiosity was about the man himself. What were his hopes and dreams? What did he ponder when his face closed up and his mouth went thin? She’d heard him laugh, and seen him smile—but in the presence of any particular lady…? Would he marry? She’d never heard his name linked with that of any suitable female.
    Her reverie was broken when Laura sighed, “Here at last.” They’d pulled through the gates of a posting house into the large courtyard behind. Ostlers sprang forward to assist with the horses as the ladies hastily donned their bonnets once more, and a moment later the coach steps were lowered. Genevieve was handed down after urging Summer to go before her, and it was quite some ten minutes of bustle as cases were brought from inside and off the dusty roof of the second coach.
    Summer smiled with obvious relief at being free of the carriage. “You’ll share a room with me, will you not?” she asked.
    “Of course,” Genevieve answered.
    Penelope and Laura exchanged nods acknowledging they’d be sharing a room with one another. The innkeeper stepped forward to assure the ladies he’d sixteen rooms free, should any of them desire one of her own.
    “They can most certainly share,” Haddy jumped in. “As will we gentlemen.”
    Xavier caught Genevieve’s eye for a moment as they both smiled at Haddy’s usual display at thrift. The Earl of Moreland controlled his family’s riches, but he liked a bargain more than most men of his standing. However, his