Dark Angel / Lord Carew's Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

his parents.
    It was merely a social call after all, then, she thought after a few minutes. It was foolish of her to have expected the event to have greater significance when they had not met for so long. Ridiculous of her. She hoped herappearance and her manner would not cause them to realize that she had expected more. How rustic they would think her.
    And then her father got to his feet.
    “I’ll show you the new section of my library I mentioned at White’s last week, Rushford,” he said, “if you would care to come and see it now. It will take but a few minutes.”
    “Certainly,” the earl agreed, rising and crossing the room to the door. “My own library is sadly out of date. I shall have to set my secretary to it.”
    His countess followed him. “And I shall call in on Lady Brill while I am here,” she said. “It is always a pleasure to see Agatha when I am in town. Jennifer, my dear, perhaps you will entertain my son for a short while?” She smiled and nodded at both of them.
    Jennifer had lulled herself with the conviction that she had been wrong about the purpose of this visit. She felt now almost as if she had been taken unaware. Panic threatened. But gazing down at her hands, which rested in her lap, she was relieved to find that they were neither trembling nor fidgeting.
    Viscount Kersey stood up when the door closed behind their parents. It was, Jennifer realized, startled, the first time they had ever been quite alone together. She looked up to find him gazing down at her. She smiled.
    “You are very lovely,” he said. “I trust you are enjoying London?”
    “Thank you.” She blushed with pleasure at the compliment, though the words had been formally spoken.“We arrived only two days ago and have been out but once since, for a walk in the park yesterday afternoon. But yes, I intend to enjoy it, my lord.” Her mind grappled with the realization that the moment had finally come.
    “Is it an encumbrance?” he asked. “This match that was forced on you when you were far too young to know quite what was being arranged on your behalf? Do you wish yourself out of it now that you are here for the Season? Do you wish you were free to receive the attentions of other gentlemen? Do you feel trapped?”
    “No!” She felt her flush deepen. “I have never for a moment regretted it, my lord. Apart from the fact that I trust my father to arrange for my future, I …”
… fell in love with you at first sight
. She had been about to say the words aloud. “… I find that it also suits my own inclination to accept his plans,” she said.
    He inclined his head in a half-bow. “I had to ask,” he said. “You were but fifteen. I was twenty and the circumstances for me were a little different.”
    And then she remembered her earlier doubts. He had been twenty. Only twenty. Now at the age of twenty-five did he regret what he had agreed to then? Had he been hoping that she would answer his questions differently? Had he been hoping that she would offer him a way out? He still had not smiled. She had.
    “B-but perhaps,” she said, “this planned match is an encumbrance to you, my lord?” Now it was not the soles of her slippers that felt as if they were made of lead, but her heart. It seemed so altogether likely suddenly. He was so very handsome and—fashionable. He did notknow her at all. He had not set eyes on her since Christmas of last year.
    For a moment he looked at the door through which his parents had just passed and half smiled. Then he took a few steps closer to her and leaned down to possess himself of her right hand. “It was my pleasure when it was first suggested,” he said, “to consider you as my future bride, and it is my pleasure now. I have looked forward impatiently to this moment. Shall we make it official, then? Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
    All doubts fled. She looked up into his blue, blue eyes and knew that the moment had come when all her dreams were being