Seeking Persephone Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    “Ridiculous.”
    “Shot the pistol out of a man’s hands in a duel, without so much as winging him,” Harry continued.
    Adam nodded. “Twice.”
    “Bested Gentleman Jackson.”
    Adam smiled at the memory. That had been extremely gratifying.
    “Bloodied Poisenby’s nose at a ball.” Harry was smiling. He’d been there for that now-famous occurrence.
    “ Broke his nose,” Adam amended.
    “Walked out of Lords in the middle of a speech by Addington.”
    “The man was being obtuse,” Adam said.
    “He was the prime minister,” Harry pointed out.
    Adam just shrugged. The papers had spoken of little else for several weeks after his abrupt departure from the House of Lords that day. But he’d made his point.
    “And you wonder why Jones thinks the worst whenever you’re angry with him,” Harry said with an ironic twist to his mouth.
    “He’ll recover.”
    “I hate to even ask,” Harry prefaced.
    “Then don’t,” Adam answered.
    Harry, as usual, ignored him. “Why did you let the man go this time?”
    “He has apparently lost his mind.”
    “How so?”
    “Why are you so deuced curious?”
    “You provide me with constant puzzles,” Harry answered. “What, precisely, has caused you to question your man of business’s mental capacity?”
    “He gave me some advice—”
    “Ah.” Harry shook his head.
    “—that proved remarkably stupid,” Adam finished.
    “As stupid as sitting up in one’s book room with one’s friend on one’s wedding night?” An ironic twinkle lit Harry’s eyes. “Because that, Adam, is a level of idiocy far and above ordinary stupidity.”
    Adam clamped his jaw shut. He would spend his wedding night wherever he chose. “I stood through the wedding, endured the wedding breakfast, and spent an interminable dinner with my flock of new sisters-in-law.”
    “Did they stare at you?” Harry asked, unaffected by the cold glare Adam skewered him with. “It would be understandable, you know. Not having been warned.”
    “I ought to have written, then?” Adam didn’t hold back the sarcasm in his tone. “I suppose I should have included a postscript with the proposal. ‘By the way, I have a mutilated face that you will be forced to see day in and day out for the rest of your life. Hope that’s not a problem.’”
    “Perhaps not those precise words.” Harry had the audacity to sound on the verge of laughing. “I was thinking more along the lines of, ‘I should mention that I am often cranky and will probably bite your head off at every little thing. And it would be best if you came to Falstone a day or so ahead of time so you can get a good look at me before making any of this irrevocable.’ That would have been a good idea, you know.”
    “Should I have posed for a miniature, do you think?”
    Harry nodded. “Full right profile. And you should have made a list of all the rumors circulating about you, indicating those that were true, those that were exaggerations of the truth, those which were untrue but plausible, and those which were completely absurd.”
    Adam allowed his lips to turn up ever so slightly. “There are few rumors that would be considered completely absurd.”
    “She ought to have known that ahead of time.” Harry sounded almost scolding. “’Twould have been only fair.”
    “She wasn’t exactly forthcoming, either, I will have you know.”
    “Forgot to mention something important?” Harry asked. “Like another husband, perhaps? A third limb?”
    “Her name is Persephone.” Adam gave the revelation all the emphasis it deserved. Much to his satisfaction, Harry looked taken aback. “A man ought to know a thing like that about his future wife. Persephone Iphigenia . What a bloody ridiculous thing to name a child.”
    “So you are spending your wedding night in a chair in your book room because your new wife’s parents had a rather classical taste in names?” Harry shook his head in disbelief. “I’m beginning to think Addington