If You Give a Girl a Viscount Read Online Free PDF Page A

ever petitioned him for money in such a direct manner. Even street beggars touched their forelocks or looked at the ground when asking him for a farthing.
    “You so hoped to meet my grandmother … or so hoped to draw from her accounts?” he asked smoothly to cover the fact that he was sorely rattled.
    And oddly fascinated.
    She made a wry face, which made her look a bit like a naughty pixie, then let out a short sigh. “Both. I’ll admit when I saw the name Lady Pinckney in your letter, I had a small, happy vision.” She spread her sturdily booted feet a delicate space apart and put her small palms up in front of her as if she were setting up a glorious story. “A vision of a doting godmother hugging me close. Followed swiftly by another vision of her opening a trunkful of gold, the coins spilling into my lap, and all our troubles ending because I’d restore Castle Vandemere to its former glory.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yes, which would mean silken pennants flying from the turrets, a repaired drawbridge, and new drapes. Yes, new drapes in every room. And perhaps a massive sideboard, in the great hall, and a new suit of armor. Ours is so shabby. The left arm fell off last week and suffered yet another dent, thanks to Jinx, our overly curious tabby cat, knocking it over again.” She paused, lost in her daydream, then said, “Of course, the castle will never be as grand as the Keep, but there are possibilities here. Distinct possibilities.”
    This was theater, wasn’t it? A woman prosing on about how to spend his family’s money?
    “Do go on,” he said, highly entertained in spite of himself.
    “Oh, yes,” she replied with enthusiasm. “I never mentioned the bedchambers. All of them need renovating.”
    “What good ideas you have.”
    “I must admit I do,” she said. “But I see now that such a perfect scenario is merely a silly fantasy.”
    “Indeed, it is.” His voice was rough now. “I’m appalled at your avarice. You do nothing to hide it. I’ve never met a lady as audacious as you.”
    “Then you’ve not met my stepmother,” Miss Montgomery replied, unfazed.
    He nearly choked. “She’s worse ?”
    “Tenfold. But unlike her, I’m not greedy in the least. Nor would I have accepted your grandmother’s charity. It would have been a loan only, I’ll have you know, and I’d only have done it because I’m responsible for other people’s welfare.” Her cheeks were bright red now. “So you can stop your rude judgments of my character. I could say plenty about your own, by the way, but I won’t. Because you look awful. If I were a man and looked as bad as you, I’d be rude, too. But after tonight, when you get a good night’s rest, I’ll not tolerate such boorish behavior anymore.”
    How had she done that? How had she turned everything around and made him look bad?
    She was the grasping one. She was the one—
    He opened his mouth to speak—he wasn’t sure what he was going to say—but she put up a hand. “Enough with our disagreement. Let’s appreciate the irony that in place of my silly fantasy, what I got instead is a quarrelsome man with a black eye, reeking of the tavern and the stables.” She gave a genuine chuckle and clapped her hand over her mouth to restrain herself. But she couldn’t stop. She let her hand fall away and laughed outright. “How funny life can be! Don’t you agree?”
    “Yes, it can be.” What a compelling creature! Perhaps because she was being so blasted honest. He wasn’t used to that.
    That and she was almost enchanting when she laughed.
    Not quite, of course, considering she was laughing at him .
    But almost.
    “Are you all right?” Miss Montgomery asked him. “I mean, you look as though”—she made an ungraceful looping motion with one hand—“as if you’ve been—”
    “To hell and back?” He completed the sentence for her.
    “Well, yes. Surely someone who’s been to hell and back requires tea.” Her tone was pert.
    A very small