My Only Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

an asset
in women, Father." She laughed tightly. "Please continue."
    "Certainly, the issue of your unfortunate
misalliance had to be approached; of course, I did so as delicately as
possible, explaining that, considering Miles's background, he had little room
to stand in judgment."
    "Ah. And that didn't impress him? I can't
imagine why. Tell me, Father, how much money did you offer him if he would
agree to take me and my 'mistake' off your hands?"
    "Here now," he blustered. "Watch
how you speak!" "Then have the decency to tell me just how much I'm
worth."
    "Didn't matter. He turned me down flat.
Wasn't interested for any amount of money, he said. Bloody upstart. Always did
believe he deserved something better; I reckon he should be thankful for what
he can get..." The realization of what he'd just implied hit him with a
jolt. Plunking the snifter onto the desk, he cursed and ran one hand through
his thinning gray hair. "Dammit, Olivia, don't look at me that way. You
know what I meant."
    Olivia turned for the door.
    "Where are you going?" he demanded.
    Throwing open the door, she called for Jonah and
directed him to bring up the coach. Then she started for the stairs, where
Emily regarded her with a look of intense concern.
    "I'm going out," Olivia told her.
    "Out where?"
    "To dance on the tabletops at King's Arms
Tavern, of course."
    Emily grabbed her arm. "You're going to see
him." Yanking her arm away, she proceeded up the stairs. "But you
can't! You mustn't! What are you going to say, Olivia?"
    Spinning
and grabbing the handrail, Olivia stared down at her sister's pale face.
"I'm going to offer our father's humblest apologies, of course, for making
an unmitigated ass of himself. For humiliating me, but most of all, for
subjecting the darling child sleeping up those stairs to such an appalling
degradation."
    Olivia continued up the stairs. Her body burned.
And shook. By the time she reached her chamber and slammed the door behind her
she could hard-tj negotiate her way to the dressing table across the room.
    Dropping into the chair, propping her elbows on
the dresser, she buried her face in her hands. The tears were there; she
couldn't help it.
    'There, there," came the familiar, soothing
voice of Bertrice Figmore. Olivia did her best to wipe away her tears as she
watched the aged nanny's reflection approach in the dresser mirror. The old
dear's silver hair stood out in cottonlike tufts all over her head. She
waddled, rather than walked, but her smile was genuine and kind. "There,
there," she repeated. "What's wrong with me girl? What has yer mummy
and papa done to make Bertrice's lass so unhappy?"
    Olivia blew her nose into a hankie. There was no
point in explaining again that Olivia's mother had died twelve years ago; it
would only distress and confuse Bertrice more.
    "Don't tell me." Bertrice pursed her
mouth in distaste. "That little terror has been at it again, ain't she?
Naughty girl. But never mind."
    "I fear it's not Emily's fault this
time," Olivia replied. Turning partially in her chair, she gazed up into
Bertrice's faded eyes and tried her best to dismiss the irregular racing of her
heart. Her father had actually tried to marry her to Miles Warwick. It was like
a fresh blow to realize the man she'd worshiped for years considered her a
wayward frump. "It's Miles Kemball.. . Warwick. From Braithwaite. You
remember him, don't you, Bertrice?"
    Bertrice looked ponderous, then her face lit in
recognition. "Ooh, aye! He's sweet on Emily, ain't that right?"
    Olivia felt her face flush.
    "You ain't still moonin' over the likes of
him, are ya, lass?" Bertrice clucked her tongue. "He's a bad one, is
that boy. He and yer sister deserve one another, if ya ask me."
    Olivia stared into her friend's eyes for a long,
silent minute. "That was five years ago," she said softly. "He
wasn't interested in me then, and he isn't now. How could my father have
embarrassed me in this fashion, and to Miles Warwick? Anyone but him, oh,
please