Season for Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page B

And since my father passed on, my mother has continued to live in Matheson House in town and run it to her own liking. So I now find myself in the position of having a title and no idea what to do with it.”
    â€œYou have a secretary, don’t you? And a steward?”
    â€œYes, and they’re damned capable—if you’ll excuse my language.”
    â€œAbsolutely,” she replied promptly. “Anytime. Say whatever you like.”
    â€œIn fact, they’re so good that they don’t have a bit of need for me. But they live in London, and they focus on our holdings there. I intend to create a real home for myself in Nicholls.”
    A sudden worry struck him. “Does Louisa know how to manage a household?” Good Lord, he hoped so. An ignorant viscount was bad enough, but if his future wife was savvy, they would manage.
    Julia looked doubtful, but she was nodding. “I expect most young ladies learn such things from their mamas or their housekeepers. We are well supplied with servants here, but we haven’t had a housekeeper since the butler’s wife died last year. It would just kill poor Manderly to see someone else in his wife’s place—er, so to speak. And anyway, between Mama and me, and of course Louisa, too, we basically handle those duties.”
    James eyed her askance, this small, hopeful-looking blond person sitting so pertly in a chair across from him. The more he learned about this household, the more unusual it seemed. “How many jobs do you do? Governess and housekeeper?”
    Julia looked surprised at his question. “I never thought about it like that. This is my home, and I do what needs to be done. Everyone’s happier knowing they can trust the children to be cared for and the servants to be content, so why have someone else do it?”
    â€œWhat will they all do when you get married?”
    The question slipped out before he thought better of it. Julia looked even more startled, and James wished he could have called the words back. He knew—he knew —that was a very personal question to be asking a girl he had only met the day before. And it was doubly improper to think of her married, or in anything but the most familial of ways. An image of the marriage bed quickly flitted through his head, and he racked his brain to think of a way to change the subject gracefully.
    Luckily, a welcome tray of food was brought into the breakfast parlor just then.
    And then another.
    And then the most perfect rack of toast he’d ever seen.
    As Julia dismissed the footmen, James wondered aloud, “How many people are having breakfast with me?”
    â€œIt’s all for you. We just wanted you to have a choice, since we didn’t know what you usually breakfasted on.”
    He approached the laden sideboard and opened the first covered dish hopefully, and a heavenly smell of steak and kidneys wafted up. Under the second cover were ham and eggs. And that toast—his mouth positively watered at the sight.
    â€œThis all looks and smells wonderful,” he said as he began to assemble a plate. “Thank you very much. I’m sorry to have put you and your servants to so much trouble for just one person.”
    â€œSo . . . it’s a lot of food? You might not want it all?”
    Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Julia’s taut pose. Her gaze was trained blankly on the wall and her fingers twisted in her lap. “You want something to eat again, don’t you?” He carefully kept his face solemn as he turned to face her.
    She looked up at him, an expression of guilt on her face. “I might have over-ordered just a bit. But if you’re absolutely certain you won’t want everything . . . well, the ham smells so good, and I can hardly believe it, but I’m hungry again already.”
    James laughed. “Serve away. Have as much as you like. Far be it from me to starve a lady in her own home.”
    The