Mutual Consent Read Online Free PDF

cousins come to call upon him with another of their constant entreaties to spend more time dancing attendance on the young debutantes at their boring soirees.
    “I would prefer to keep it for the moment, my lord,” Barbara said.
    The earl’s brows drew together in a slight frown. The woman’s husky, well-bred voice was not one that he readily recalled. He cast about in his memory for a lady with whom he had had some sort of tryst, but came up with nothing. He shrugged and moved to lean against the mantel. There he stood at ease, playing with his fob. Undoubtedly the lady would herself jog his lamentable memory. “As you wish. To whom do I owe this mysterious visit?”
    “Miss Barbara Cribbage, my lord,” she said quietly. She awaited his lordship’s reaction with dread anticipation. It was all that she could have expected, and worse, and her courage nearly deserted her.
    Lord Chatworth abruptly straightened, dropping his fob to dangle on its black riband. “You are Miss Cribbage?” he asked. There was a mingled note of distaste and incredulity in his voice. His eyes had sharpened and his stare raked over her with a boldness that would have been insulting at any other time.
    Babs assured herself that she was not shocked or embarrassed by his inspection. His lordship had as much right to his interest in her as she had to hers in him. After all, she had just moments before made much the same assessing examination of his person.
    “Yes, I am Miss Cribbage. You are undoubtedly surprised, my lord. However, do reflect a moment. I could hardly consent to marriage without first meeting my intended,” Babs said with a credible assumption of calm. But her fingers were tight on the strings of her reticule. This interview was proving every bit as difficult for her as she had dreaded.
    Lord Chatworth smiled thinly at her words. His eyes had become extremely hard. “Quite. Naturally you wished to inspect the goods your father has so very kindly purchased for you.” He stared insolently, trying to penetrate the heavy veil. The woman sounded cultured and she possessed a youthful figure, yet he could not be certain of her breeding or her age. Those things were apparent only in the eyes and one’s countenance, he thought irritatedly.
    Babs had flinched at the earl’s words, but even as she did, she discovered that his scorn also served to anger her. She said coldly, “Not very elegantly put, Lord Chatworth. However true, you should also know that my father and I disagree vehemently about some of his methods.”
    “So I see,” Lord Chatworth said contemptuously. He picked up his fob again, to swing it from the end of its black satin riband from negligent fingers. “Yet you are willing to be the prize in this farce. You would marry a man you know nothing of for the sake of a title. Pray forgive me for my lack of credulity, m’dear.”
    It was too much. She had hoped for an alliance of sorts and to reach an understanding, but this haughty ridicule could not be borne. “Lord Chatworth, have you never thought there may be others as equally unwilling as yourself to dance to the piper’s tune?”
    Babs pressed a gloved hand against her mouth, appalled by her outburst. She was desperately near tears. She fought to regain control of herself, taking deep, measured breaths. Tumbling about in her mind was the clear thought that she should never have come. She had made a horrible mistake. She could never make this arrogant nobleman understand even a particle of what she was feeling, or of her circumstances.
    Lord Chatworth watched the woman’s rigid figure, at last made sharply aware of her inner distress. He recalled suddenly the cit’s aura of overbearing power. “Not even your father can force you into a distasteful marriage, Miss Cribbage,” he said gently.
    She shook her head. Her hands came together to clench in her lap. “It was so very difficult to come,” she said under her breath. She was unaware that she spoke her