The Complicated Earl Read Online Free PDF

by the fire, but unfortunately it is never to be, she is always ready to attend a ball.”
    “Now Mary, don’t give such false re presentations to his Lordship. You know as well as the rest of us that I cannot be considered as energetic when the Assembly Rooms close at eleven. We do not keep London hours here, which helps us to do more during the day. I cannot give you false impressions of us being occupied as riotously as you are in London.” Isabelle raised her eyes to the Earl in a challenge and again she saw the flicker she had noticed when they had been first introduced.
    “I would hope you are not occupied as I am in London,” Tom replied quietly.
    “ I would expect not, my eccentric behaviour is indulged by my brothers, but if I were to develop the behaviour of a rake I would be cast out even by them.”
                  Isabelle saw the sides of the Earl’s mouth twitch and he coughed in an effort to stop the laughter before replying “Quite so,” in a strangled voice.
    Isabelle smiled sweetly at him, but James interrup ted her. “Izzy for God’s sake, I’ve brought you here to give a good impression of the family, not to convince Standish never to allow any connection with us whatsoever! Sometimes I agree with Frank that you run away with yourself.”
    “Well that is me put firmly in my place!” Isabelle said, not looking remorseful in the slightest. “I can only offer my apologies my Lord and assure you that my faults are not in any way apparent in any other member of my family. They are mine alone to bear.” She finished with a sigh, addressing her remarks to the Earl and tried to suppress a smile when she saw his mouth twitch again.
    “I am reassured madam,” he smiled at her and for the first time she saw the smile reach his eyes. It was a pity he did not smile more often Isabelle thought to herself for he was a handsome man, devastatingly so when he smiled like that. “Shall we withdraw Crawford? The other room is not suitable for the ladies to withdraw to.” Tom said changing the subject and leading the way out of the parlour, leaving the ladies to plan their activities over the next few days.
    Tom led James into a small side room. It was cramped and basically furnished, but large enough for the two men to enjoy a glass of port without the chatter of the ladies.
    “I do apologise for my sister, she does tend to speak without thinking,” James said as soon as they sat.
    Tom waved the apology away. “It’s refreshing to be challenged over dinner. You have too much experience of the society we keep to know how rare that is. I’m surprised your sister is not married.” He could not resist asking what really was an impertinent question, but the package that was Isabelle Crawford brought out a curiosity that he would normally have repressed.
    “We expected her to marry - she did herself,” James explained. “But the buffoons who vied for her attention failed to notice that she is intelligent as well as handsome and did not hide what they were really after, her fortune.”
    “Idiots! You say she is handsome. I would imagine she would be considered a beauty.”
    “Yes, although she genuinely doesn’t see it herself. I know what she will say when we leave tonight, that Lady Sophie is beautiful. Izzy sees beauty in the opposite to her; golden hair and blue eyes. I don’t think that she would have appreciated someone swooning over her looks when she was being courted. She needed someone who would be her equal in ways that would provide her with the happy marriage she has been told our parents had. I sometimes think we have done her a disservice, perhaps we should not have told her so much about our parents in order that she could settle for something less.”
    “Why shouldn’t she aim to be happy in marriage? Neither of us can criticise her for avoiding second best, most would avoid accepting that,” Tom said in defence of Isabelle while slowly swirling his port in his glass.