Seeking Persephone Read Online Free PDF

isn’t the only obtuse gentleman in England.”
    Adam didn’t care for the insinuation. “My pistols are kept in this room, you know.”
    “Do I look worried?” was the flippant response.
    Harry never was appropriately subdued by Adam’s threats. Infuriating man.
    “I had a chance to speak briefly with your new bride, Adam. She was delightful. Perhaps a little quiet, but that is to be expected considering the upheaval in her life lately. I’ll confess I had expected someone rather long in the tooth, rather long in the face, in all honesty.”
    “So did I,” Adam grumbled.
    “But she’s a fetching thing,” Harry continued. “Young and quite pretty—” Harry stopped abruptly. He gave Adam a searching look. Adam glared back, daring Harry to make some philosophical remark or assessment. Harry, as always, did just that. “You expected someone desperate and ugly and undesirable. Instead, your bride turned out to be a vast deal more than passable.” Harry shook his head. “Not quite what you bargained for, I’d guess.”
    Adam turned his gaze to the fire and kept his jaw firmly clamped. He would not honor that assessment with a response. His marriage was no one’s business but his own.
    “So, because she is young and fine looking and appears to be good natured, the poor girl is upstairs, alone, probably wondering what she’s done wrong, and you are down here brooding. Adam, you are completely bacon-brained.”
    “I should call you out for that.”
    “Do,” Harry answered. “But not tonight. I’m tired.” Harry rose to his feet. “Call me out tomorrow, would you? I’ll most likely pick pistols, by the way. I’d like to see that shoot-the-weapon-out-of-my-hand trick I’ve heard so much about.”
    “I ought to lock you in the dungeon,” Adam muttered as Harry made to leave.
    “You should,” Harry agreed, walking to the door. “No point having a dungeon if no one is ever consigned to suffer in it.”
    “Pack your things and take yourself off at first light.” Adam’s demand emerged half-hearted.
    “Am I supposed to walk out of here stooped and defeated now?” Harry turned back to face Adam from his position at the threshold. “I don’t think I would play that role nearly as well as Jones.”
    “Don’t mock me.”
    Harry smiled. “‘Night, Adam.”
    “‘Night.” Presumptuous lout.
    “And Adam?”
    “What?” he snapped.
    “Give the poor girl a chance,” Harry said. “Ain’t her fault you ended up with every man’s idea of a perfect wife. She could probably even manage to be a nag if you asked her.”
    So Adam threw a book at him.
    Harry’s laughter echoed in the empty corridor as he made his way toward the room he always occupied when he visited.
    “I don’t know why I keep inviting him back,” Adam mumbled.
    Harry had an annoying habit of interfering in Adam’s life. He never found Adam remotely off-putting and always laughed off every threat Adam made against his person. Furthermore, he was precisely the sort of gentleman Adam generally avoided: easy in society, handsome, self-assured. If he’d been an idiot into the bargain, Adam would have despised him. As it was, Adam wasn’t entirely sure why he didn’t dislike him.
    He’d hit a nerve that night, however. Adam found himself thinking of Persephone— ridiculous name. She probably was wondering where Adam was. Though, more likely than not, she would be grateful to be spared the sight of him. He certainly had no intention of inflicting himself on her.
    Adam pulled himself up out of his chair. He was tired, he had to admit. And spending the night sleeping in his chair, as comfortable as it was, did not appeal to him. He walked quietly from the book room, up a flight of stairs, passing tapestries and arms and tables holding mementos passed down by generations of Boyces.
    He dismissed his valet on the spot, preferring to divest himself of his wedding clothes on his own. He was finding the attire almost suffocating at the