A Regency Invitation to the House Party of the Season Read Online Free PDF

to say. She felt a little shaky.
    ‘I have resolved not to marry, my lord,’ she said, ‘so I fear that your journey is in vain. I become mistress of my own fortune when I am five and twenty and that seems far preferable to me than giving it away to someone else.’
    To her surprise, Peter did not try to persuade her otherwise. He merely sat looking at her with that cool, assessing blue gaze until Cassie felt quite light-headed.
    ‘I respect your point of view,’ he said at last. ‘However, if you were to consider marriage, would there be any circumstances under which you might view me as a suitable candidate?’
    Yes, oh, yes. Cassie just managed not to say the wordsaloud. There was something all too suitable about Peter Quinlan in so many ways, and it flustered Cassie to think about it.
    ‘That is a theoretical question, my lord,’ she pointed out, managing to hold on to her common sense.
    ‘Granted. But on a theoretical basis—am I acceptable?’
    Peter’s fingers tightened very slightly on her own. Cassie repressed a shiver of awareness.
    ‘I am not sure that you are acceptable, my lord,’ she said severely, trying and failing to remove her hand from his grasp. ‘There are grave concerns about your character, for instance. I overheard Cousin John and Cousin Anthony talking about you. John said that you had rakish tendencies and he had doubts on that score about promoting a match between us. What do you say to that?’
    ‘I think that it is encouraging to think that your cousins are so concerned for your welfare,’ Peter said.
    ‘You have not answered my question.’
    Peter smiled. ‘You noticed.’
    ‘I did. So?’
    There was a look of resignation on Peter’s face. ‘Very well, I confess it. You have me on the rack already, Miss Ward.’
    ‘This,’ Cassie said severely, ‘is not a very good start, Lord Quinlan. So you are a fortune hunter and a rake. Do you have any redeeming features?’
    ‘Many. I am very honest, as you perceive.’
    Cassie found herself smiling against her will. There was something oddly disarming about such a blatant admission of fault.
    ‘It is surprising that Anthony and John thought you were the most suitable candidate to court me,’ she said.
    ‘Perhaps,’ Peter said, ‘they recognise my excellent qualities and hope that you will come to see them too.’
    Cassie snorted. ‘I think it very annoying that they are so anxious to marry me off at all. Marriage brought no happiness to Cousin Anthony. He never speaks of it, of course, but I know that he has been miserable ever since Georgiana disappeared and he is forever saying that he has no wish ever to marry again.’ She flung out one hand in a gesture of disgust. ‘Then there is Cousin John. He and his first wife rubbed along together tolerably well in public, but everyone in the family knew that she detested him.’ She turned away from him suddenly, a lump in her throat. ‘Yet they seek to marry me off because they are not quite sure what to do with me!’ She looked at Peter a little defiantly. It seemed odd to be confiding in a man who was to all intents and purposes a stranger, and yet there was something about him that drew her confidence.
    ‘I could not bear to find that I was tied to a man I could neither love nor respect,’ she finished, a little sadly. ‘He would take all my money and care nothing for me, and it would be intolerable.’
    ‘Cassie,’ Peter said again. ‘It need not be like that.’
    He shifted a little closer to her until Cassie’s thigh was pressed against his. She could feel the sensuous rub of her velvet skirts against his leg. Her skin prickled with new and tempting sensations.
    ‘I…’
    Peter smiled. ‘Yes?’
    Cassie wrinkled up her nose as she tried to concentrate. ‘I am sure it would be exactly like that if I were to marry someone like Cousin William,’ she said. ‘He is forever pressing me to wed him.’ She saw a shadowof expression touch Peter Quinlan’s eyes, but