Good Earl Hunting Read Online Free PDF Page B

the path once more. “Now. About me. Until two years ago I had no prospects of being anything more a marquis’s son and an earl’s younger brother.”
    For a moment she considered. If she continued with her suspicions and criticisms he might admire her wit, but they would never be friends – much less this other thing that made her nerves shiver and her heart pound. She thought she’d utterly failed at turning this man’s attention to Belle, and yet evidently she’d done a great deal more than that.
    Was it hope or stupidity if she decided to accept that he was sincere? Would she be setting herself up for embarrassment or heartbreak if she let her guard down? Or was it more that she was affirming her own cowardice if she turned her back and returned to the house? After all, she’d just experienced her first kiss, and mostly what she wanted was to have another. From Geoffrey Kerick, Lord Vashton.
    And Annabel... No one had guaranteed that her older sister would marry anyone. No one had shaken hands or written their names on a piece of paper. For heaven’s sake, the only supposed connection between Belle and Geoffrey was that they’d danced a few times and that Geoffrey had come to Devonshire for a fox hunt. She blew out her breath.
    “Did I come out well in that mental argument?” the earl asked, his fingers warm and firm around hers.
    “This is nothing I expected,” Theodora returned. “I’m...I’m beyond surprised. And I’ve never been in this situation before, so I have no idea what I’m supposed to say or do.”
    “Say you at least accept that I am after you, Theodora. And say that hearing that excites you.”
    Oh, it did that. “Of course it’s exciting to have a handsome man express interest,” she retorted. “But all I know about you is that you’re an earl due to inherit a marquisdom, that you never expected to be in these circumstances, and that you enjoy fox hunting. And I daresay you don’t know anything about me, either.”
    “I know you don’t like nonsense, but you have a sense of humor,” he returned. “I know you’ll converse with people you feel nervous around for the sake of your family. I know you’ve likely been...not ignored, but set aside, I suppose, until your parents see Annabel married. I know you’ve been called a bluestocking, which I assume means that you’re intelligent and well read.”
    She looked up at him. This was all beginning to seem very, very real. And even more exciting because of it. “You have been looking into things, haven’t you?”
    “Once I realized that no young lady I’ve met gave me a sleepless night until you, I had to know who you are, Theodora.” he gazed at her from beneath dark lashes. “Theodora. That does suit you, you know. Exotic and unusual.”
    She liked the way he said her name. “I wonder sometimes if we’re named to suit our character, or if we alter our character to suit our name.”
    “Either way, then, I should fear a fellow named Brutus.”
    Theodora laughed again, belatedly remembering that she was to remain at least a little suspicious of him, however remarkable this day was turning out to be. She’d never lost her head over a man, and now that one was actually looking at her, she wasn’t about to do so. Still, he made a good point. “Definitely,” she agreed aloud.
    For a long moment he gazed at her, then faced down the path again. “So tell me, Theodora, when your parents decided to...nudge Annabel in my direction, what did you think? That I was a poor choice?”
    Oh, he didn’t want to hear that. “When did you decide you needed to marry?” she countered.
    “I asked you a question first. And we’re being honest and forthright, if you’ll recall.” He took a slow breath. “I do know the tradition, that as my father’s heir I’m supposed to marry for prestige and money. But until two years ago I had thought to be able to marry...whomever I wished. Someone whose conversation I enjoyed, someone who cared