A Visit From Sir Nicholas Read Online Free PDF Page A

I look at her the way any man looks at a beautiful woman." Nick turned to peruse a shelf of books and clasped his hand behind his back. "It scarcely matters. She is to marry my best friend."
    "They are not betrothed."
    "Yet." Nick shrugged. "They will be. Before this Christmas has passed, Charles has vowed to ask for her hand."
    "I wondered why you were so intent upon leaving before Christmas."
    "It seems best." Nick glanced at his uncle over his shoulder. "I will confess, I am intrigued by her, even enchanted. But each minute spent in her presence is a temptation I am hard-pressed to resist. The best way to deal with temptation is to remove it—or, in this instance, remove myself from the temptation." Frederick considered him in silence.
    "You needn't stare at me like that, Uncle. Elizabeth is a charming, lovely creature. You cannot fault me for wanting her. But Charles is my closest friend, and she…" Frustration surged through him, and he laughed it away. "This is what was meant to be. For as long as I've known him, Charles has planned to wed Elizabeth. Jonathon expects it, as does everyone in both their families." He shook his head. "Charles is a far better match for her than I in temperament and heritage and all those other things that are taken into account when entering a marriage. Besides, he has loved her always, and I—" Frederick raised a brow. "Have loved her nearly as long?"
    Nearly.
    "Love? Don't be absurd." Nick snorted in amused disdain, as if the very concept of his loving Elizabeth Effington at all, let alone for much of his life, were ridiculous.
    But he had.
    She'd been a child when they'd first met and he barely a few years older. She'd ignored him, of course, and he'd ignored her equally well. Jonathon and Charles had become his friends and constant companions. In spite of that, between the years of school and travel, his path had crossed hers infrequently. And while she'd paid him no particular notice when it had, and he, in the way of his male friends, had not deigned to pay her heed, he had always been all too aware of her presence. Of the spark of gaiety in her lovely blue eyes and the joy that echoed in the ring of her laughter. Yes, he had loved her nearly always.
    "And what of Elizabeth?" Frederick said slowly. "Does she care for you?"
    "Of course not. She loves Charles. She always has. She…" Nick shook his head. "I can't imagine that she has any affection for me at all."
    Nick didn't know of her feelings, not really. Did a scant handful of conversations that had begun innocently enough and ended with his revealing things he had never told a soul, thoughts and dreams he hadn't realized he'd had until he'd gazed into her lovely face and heard her own candid responses indicate affection on her part? Did the fact that inevitably when he glanced at her across a room, her gaze would meet his again and again, as if she were looking for him just as he was looking for her, signify a longing that matched his own? And was the shock in her eyes after he'd dared to kiss her maidenly outrage or a silent admission that she'd been as shaken by the moment as he?
    It scarcely mattered.
    "I daresay if she has any feeling for me whatsoever, they are perhaps those of confusion." He chose his words carefully. "I have not always been as circumspect with her as I have wished. But she is young, and a bit of confusion regarding her feelings in response to the unwarranted attentions of another man, any man, is to be expected."
    Confusion brought by his glance and his kiss and a yearning he knew full well he could keep from his face but feared it did indeed show in his eyes.
    Frederick snorted. "You are scarcely much older than she."
    "Three years, Uncle." Nick set his jaw firmly. "There is a great deal of difference between a man of two and twenty and a woman who is barely nineteen."
    "Ah, yes, what was I thinking?" Frederick puffed his cigar in the methodical manner that signified serious thought on the older man's