A Season of Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page B

until the gossip abated. I didn’t officially return to England until August of this year. Before then, the last time I’d set foot on English soil was in the spring of 1815.”
A long, painful silence ensued.
Revealing it all had been more difficult than he’d expected. But it was over now. All he could do was wait. And hope.
“You were gone for so long,” she murmured.
“Twelve years.”
“But you explored the whole world in that time.”
“Well, not the whole world.”
She sighed. “I have always dreamed of exploring the world. Africa, Asia, Polynesia. I am fascinated by indigenous cultures. But I’d especially love to visit America.”
“America? Why?”
“I imagine the Americans to possess many of the qualities I admire: curiosity, adventurousness, bravery, practicality. I’ve always envisioned them to be enterprising and imaginative.” She gave him a wistful smile. “Though I’m sure my girlish conceptions have little to do with their real character.”
“No, I think there is much truth in them. As with any place, however, America is filled with all kinds of people.”
“I wish I could travel—go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wished to do. I wish I could be a sailor… but alas, I am a woman, and a duke’s sister. It is not meant to be.”
“Yet you have traveled within the United Kingdom?”
She hesitated. “A little. I have been between London and Yorkshire, where Garrett’s seat is, several times.” She stared at the fire. “I have been to southern Scotland for a few days, and I lived for a time with my husband in Warwickshire. But really, I haven’t seen much of the country. I have a house in Cornwall from my mother, but I’ve never been there.”
Cautiously, he took her hand in his own, turning it over in his palm. It was so soft, so fragile. “If you could pursue a profession, what would it be?”
She took a long moment to consider, and finally she smiled. “I’d be a surgeon.”
“Really?” She’d surprised him yet again. He could hardly see this delicate, elegant creature sawing bones, sewing up wounds, and issuing draughts to the dying.
“Yes, I believe I would,” she said, her voice grave. “Ithink it must be a most gratifying profession. A heartbreaking one, but ever so worthy.”
“Very true,” he said, remembering Smith, the surgeon on the Gloriana . He’d drowned last autumn in a gale off the coast of Jamaica, along with three other sailors. Smith was his friend, and a good man. It took a special kind of man to be a surgeon.
Becky brought her knees close and wrapped her arms around them, gazing at him. “Why didn’t you return to England sooner?” she asked finally. “Twelve years is such a long time.”
“I wasn’t welcome. My father, as you know, is a member of Parliament, and my brothers have their own ambitions. They didn’t want their scapegrace of a youngest brother ruining their chances for success.”
“That’s so cruel.”
“I understand their hesitation in allowing my return, and I cannot blame them.”
That wasn’t a lie, not really. After twelve years, he was as distant from his closest family members as anyone could be. He’d seen his father and eldest brother once since his return, and the meeting had been stiff and formal, and eminently uncomfortable. He had no wish to repeat the experience. “My father was sworn to the Privy Council last year, so my absence was certainly not detrimental to his career.” He took a breath. “England is my home, though, and I intend to make a life here now that I have returned.”
She nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
He fetched his glass from the side table. Rising, he went to the sidebar to refill it with brandy as she sipped at her sherry.
As the amber liquid streamed into his tumbler, he said, “Tell me about your husband.”
She recoiled, and he instantly regretted the command. He couldn’t fathom why he had brought up her husband—except, he thought ruefully, for the fact that he had revealed a