Lace for Milady Read Online Free PDF Page A

well-shaped finger of the other. On his small finger of the pointing hand a heavy gold ring sat, catching the glow from the sun in a large emerald. Still when I think of my poor leased land, I think of that pointing finger, like a finger of fate, and the green stone winking somberly in the sun. I read it once, twice, a third time. The words did not change, and I could still not believe it.
    “Do you mean to say that, that— woman sold me a house that has no land to go with it?” I stormed futilely.
    “It certainly seems you made the error of buying a house that stands on land belonging to me,” he agreed with a truly hateful look. Not a smirk but a suppressed smirk, which is infinitely worse. “Tell me, was the purchase, like your ride, a first?”
    “Yes, and like the ride, I took a fall, but this is not the end of it.”
    He lifted the documents from my fingers. I had snatched them back from him, but he now scanned the papers casually. “Everything here is in order. What do you hope to do about it?”
    “Wring her neck,” I said grimly.
    "That will help cool your anger, but little else. I have a more practical suggestion to rectify your error."
    I looked my question, too distraught to speak, but quite aware of that unnecessary “your error."
    “Sell Seaview to me,” he said.
    “No!” The response was instinctive. It came out without thought or effort on my part, but it was my feeling: I loved my old sham Gothic mansion. It was like a little fairy castle, a miniature castle on miniature grounds, but it was what I wanted. Inside it was well divided with a few large rooms. I liked the view of the sea, and in spite of her criminal tendencies, I liked dealing with Aunt Ethelberta, too. I had no desire to leave Sussex.
    “I know you paid too much for the place, but I am willing to purchase it from you at the same price,” he said reasonably.
    I suspected the price I had paid Lady Ing was a good one, though the estate agent in Pevensey assured me it was not exorbitant. Her good friend, no doubt.
    “How do you know what I paid for it?” I asked. It seemed the Duke knew a great deal more about me than I knew about him. He knew where I lived when we had met in the spinney, and though I couldn’t remember having a name put to me, no doubt he knew that as well.
    “I took the trouble to find out. Three thousand pounds, was it not?”
      “Yes, it was, and I do not consider it excessive.”
    “Considering the unusual circumstance of the leased land, I doubt she would have found many takers, but, of course, you know what it is worth to you to live for nineteen years in a draughty, uncomfortable, decrepit old house."
    Every instinct demanded a rude reply to this speech, but it was my desire to ingratiate the Duke to get him to renew the lease for another ninety-nine years, so I held in my anger. “Surely another lease can be arranged..."I began placatingly.
    “I think not.”
    “You have no need of it! Belview is huge.” Clavering’s home was a spot known to me only by reputation. So far as actual appearance went, I had seen no more than a tantalizing hint or two from behind the treed park. A branch of beech would sway to reveal a crenellated edge of roof standing against the sky, or a glimpse of a turret, or bartizan swelling out from a corner.
    “I do not require it for myself, but I require it.”
    “What for?”
    The black brows rose perceptibly, and a spark of anger lit his dark eyes. He suddenly looked more duke than gypsy. His Grace was not accustomed to account to anyone for his whims. He hesitated long enough for me to realize the question was an impertinence. At length he replied unhelpfully, “For a relative.”
    “It is said that Belview has fifty bedrooms. I can’t think one of them could not house your relative.”
    Again there was a pause, then he decided to humour me with an answer. “Sixty actually, but my aunt is ill—lung trouble—and requires sea air without the inconvenience of a