His Convenient Mistress Read Online Free PDF Page A

Lucy,’ he flicked his headin the general direction of the Rectory, ‘someone is already lining herself up to fill the role.’
    â€˜Oh, yes?’ Maria cocked her head to one side and looked interestedly at her son. ‘And who might that be?’
    â€˜Don’t pretend the innocent with me, Mama,’ James said with a slow grin. ‘This is the original nesting bed of the malicious rumour, and Lucy and her clique of friends have already begun circulating one.’
    â€˜Which is…?’
    â€˜That our new neighbour is a money-grabbing gold-digger on the look-out for a prospective husband.’
    â€˜You have met her. You do not agree, then?’ Maria asked casually and James gave a snort of laughter. ‘Perhaps they are right.’ She stole a curious look at her son, who was staring grimly out towards the Rectory. He had invited the girl over and she had failed to appear. She, Maria, had made no comment on this, but she knew that her son had been unsurprisingly annoyed. It wasn’t often that his orders, which they always were, however prettily he tried to package them, were ignored.
    â€˜Perhaps,’ Maria mused speculatively, ‘she is on the look-out for a nice, eligible, rich man…’
    â€˜In which case she’s barking up the wrong tree. Anyway, I can spot an opportunist a mile off and I can’t think of anyone less on the look-out,’ he said, his head filling with the images of the dismissive look she had thrown at him when he had stepped out of his car and the impatient resignation with which she had greeted his offer to make her a cup of coffee. ‘She struggled to invite me into the Rectory, for God’s sake!’
    â€˜What a shame,’ Maria murmured teasingly, ‘and how did you cope with the shock of not being fawned upon by a woman?’
    â€˜Women do not fawn over me, Mama,’ he denied vigorously, but he flushed at the accuracy of her dart. He was fully and cynically aware that he possessed just the right combination of attributes to make a woman’s head turn. ‘And this one certainly didn’t.’
    â€˜So your plans to buy the Rectory have taken a nosedive, am I right?’
    â€˜Oh, I wouldn’t rush into assuming any such thing.’ But he had no idea how he was going to persuade her to sell. She hadn’t struck him as the sort of woman who could be talked into doing anything she didn’t want to do.
    â€˜Well, if she does not like you, James, then she is hardly going to agree to selling something she has travelled hundreds of miles to possess.’ Maria looked out to where several of the guests were already trying to decide who should be in what team. Constance Campbell, who usually shifted automatically into the role of organising everyone else, was having a hard time with guests who were tipsy enough to get a kick out of thwarting her.
    But I could get to know her, couldn’t I…? James reflected. Discover the chink in her armour. The Rectory was beautiful but frankly falling to bits. If he got to know her, well, he could just help her along the way to realising just how much needed doing to the place and how much easier it would be to shift the potential headache to someone else. Namely him. No good barging in when she still had her little head in the clouds, but a few carefully placed remarks might work wonders.
    â€˜Who knows?’ he answered in a distracted voice. ‘Anyway, shall we get on with this wretched game of croquet? You know I can’t stand the sport.’
    â€˜I know.’ She touched his cheek briefly and lovingly. ‘Not vigorous enough for you. It is nice having you home here.’
    â€˜And it’ll be even nicer when this lot depart. You know what they say about too much of a good thing.’
    As it turned out, it was after six before the last of the guests left and after eight by the time a thoughtful James had eaten dinner, which was