One Dangerous Desire (Accidental Heirs) Read Online Free PDF Page B

considering that since remaking himself in London he’d adopted his mother’s maiden name, discarding the surname of George Cross, the footman-turned-thief who’d abandoned his mother before Rex was born.
    “Your name and your achievements will be forever intertwined, young man. And your children will carry your name forward.”
    He couldn’t think about children. Children were for a future he hadn’t yet grasped. But he might if he worked hard enough, if he stayed the course and made wise choices, and it all began with the Pinnacle.
    “Does investment in my hotel interest you at all, Your Grace?”
    The older man stopped pacing and strode back behind his desk again, reaching a hand out to rest it along the edge of his chair.
    “Impatience is a quality we share, Mr. Leighton. And I do admire your American bluntness. Quite enough to return the favor. Tell me, sir, are you planning to marry my daughter?”
    This was the question for which he had a ready answer. He couldn’t promise marriage to Lady Emily on a day’s acquaintance. Never mind that she was a friend of the woman he’d spent six years trying to forget. He’d denied himself a good deal to achieve his goals, but spending the rest of his days with May Sedgwick just out of reach was not a misery to which he could imagine subjecting himself.
    “Your daughter is one of the cleverest young women I’ve encountered during my time in London.”
    “However?” Ashworth drew out the word and punctuated it by opening one hooded eye wide, his squirrel-tail brow cresting high on his forehead.
    “However, Lady Emily and I have only met on a single occasion. Marriage hasn’t yet crossed my mind.” His voice grew rough again as he lied. Apparently, he was losing his touch.
    “Aha! A man who speaks sense.” Ashworth clutched his chest as if his heart gave him pain, then threw back his head and let out an ear-piercing chortle. When he looked at Rex again, his eyes crinkled in amusement. “You have no idea what a relief it is to hear the lack of false enthusiasm in your tone, Mr. Leighton. Not that I do not think my Emily endowed with every feminine virtue. I do. But I won’t have any man marry her as a pawn.” Ashworth waved his long hand in the air between them. “What goes on here. Whatever business we conduct. Let us keep it separate from your friendship with my daughter. I wouldn’t wish one to be in any way dependent on the other.”
    “W AS THAT YOUR father?” May swiveled on the settee to glance toward the howling noise she’d heard echoing down the Ashworth’s main hallway.
    “Never mind him. Papa makes strange noises when he’s riled. Or happy. Or can’t contain any emotion beyond the usual bland niceties.”
    “What has him riled today?” May had visited Ashworth House often and never heard the kind of high-pitched sound that still rang in her ears. She’d come to think of Emily’s father as an eccentric. Seeing as it was how many described her own father, she wasn’t surprised by the duke’s unusual behavior.
    “I suspect it’s the interesting man he’s meeting with in his office. An American.” Emily lifted her teacup for a sip and shot May a mischievous grin before pressing the porcelain to her lips.
    There had to be hundreds of Americans in London. Perhaps thousands. But Emily’s mention of an American brought one man to May’s mind, a dark-haired rogue with kaleidoscope eyes, as changeable in color as his heart was in its allegiance. A man she tried to keep hidden, locked away in the back of her mind. Memories of him were still too sharp six years on. Sharp enough to bring her as much pain as they did pleasure. Better to keep those bittersweet reminiscences at bay.
    “I met him at the National Gallery when you ran off with Mr. Graves.” Em seemed to want her to ask about him. After sipping her tea, the grin returned. It spoke of secrets, but not the kind to be kept. The sort to be whispered between friends. May sometimes