A Perfect Gentleman Read Online Free PDF Page B

you will be recounting how much we have in common. Nonsense! Miss Kane is a provincial heiress, a financier’s daughter with no social graces, as evidenced by her letter and the fact that she needs to hire a gentleman companion. And I? I am a scattergood viscount’s wastrel son, a Town beau with nothing to recommend him except what you call a degree of charm, and his prowess on the dance floor.”
    “Nothing but the most handsome visage in all the ton .”
    “You forgot your spectacles again, goose.”
    “I do not forget your gentle kindness, and your lovely blue eyes, and that devastating dimple. Why, I doubt any female could resist your smile. Miss Kane will fall in love with you in an instant, with the least encouragement.”
    “A wealthy heiress, smitten by a smile? You have been reading far too many Minerva Press novels, Gwen. And even if she did happen to topple into love with my baby blue eyes”—not even Gwen could miss the scorn in his voice—“her trustees would never let Miss Kane throw herself and her fortune away on a ramshackle gentleman of little repute or regard.”
    “Well, you are far out there. No one but Earl Patten ever had anything but the highest praise for you, and he came about. And do not dismiss the viscountcy as a mere bauble hanging off your waistcoat pocket. A girl with more than enough money but no entree to higher social circles just might wish to elevate her standing. I doubt there are any unattached earls half so handsome, nor any marquesses with your sense of honor. As for the royal dukes, the less said the better.”
    “What, Miss Kane has gone from a silly chit whose head can be turned with a smile to a greedy, grasping social climber? Either way, she sounds unappealing.”
    “She sounds like a practical woman to me!” Gwen insisted. “Females are raised to make good marriages, not find grand passions. A thrilling lover might make a girl’s toes curl, but she needs her feet firmly on the ground to find a responsible provider, a companion in her old age, a decent father to her children. My grandchildren.” Gwen’s eyes filled with tears. “You would be a good husband for Miss Kane. I know it. No one could not love you,” she added with a stepmother’s prejudice and a sniffle.
    Lord, she wasn’t going to start crying, was she? Stony handed her his handkerchief and a new subject as quickly as he could. “What about you, Gwen? Why haven’t you found a new husband? I know any number of decent chaps would have been happy to take you off my—that is, to take you to wife, with or without any kind of dowry.”
    Gwen stopped crying instantly. “There were quite a few, weren’t there?” she asked with pride in her voice.
    “Yes, and you made me refuse all of the ones who approached me. Heaven knows how many asked you directly. Why?”
    “I suppose because they thought you were too young to be head of the family, or I was too old to need a guardian’s permission.”
    Stony rubbed at his aching temples. “No, I mean why have you refused so many respectable offers? Any of those men could have provided for you far better than I can. Lud knows, better than my father did. If, as you say, women are taught to be practical, you must have realized you could have had comfort and security and all the luxuries you deserve. Endless parties, summers in Brighton, a wardrobe full of new frocks. You might have had children of your own.”
    “I did try with your father, you know,” she said with a blush. “We tried very hard, in fact.”
    “Yes, but another man, a younger one… Never mind.” Some things he was not prepared to discuss with his stepmama, especially when she looked like a mere girl with her brown hair up in curl papers and pink ribbons flowing from her robe. She was more a sister to him—a younger sister, at that—than anything else. He would have wanted a better life for his sister, too. “You could have become a famous hostess, instead of having to tell your