The Counterfeit Betrothal Read Online Free PDF Page A

last.
    Bitterness twitched at Jeremy’s lips as he said, “I have asked you to marry me, Miss Delwyn. Apparently my proposal was a far greater shock to you than I had anticipated; I am sorry. I had not realized how thoroughly news of my reputation must have reached you.”
    Abruptly he knelt in front of her. “Were there more time, I should have courted you for the weeks or months that custom prescribes. With your father’s illness, however, it is his own wish that I should not wait. And I need no such time to know my own heart.” He hesitated, then added, “We are not entirely strangers. You know me well I enough to know that I do not dance to the tune of convention nor do I think that you do. But if your father should die before we were married, then the wedding would have to be put off some months at the least, perhaps a year, and your father does not wish that to happen.”
    “You, you have already spoken to my father?” Emmaline said in astonishment. “And he approves?”
    Jeremy cocked his head. “Did you think me so lost to all decency that I would speak to you first? Ask him, if you will, what he thinks of the notion. Then give me your answer. I shall wait right here, if you wish, while you do.”
    A trifle dazed, Emmaline stood and Jeremy stood with her. “Yes, yes,” she said absently, “perhaps that would be best. Pray excuse me. I shall return shortly.”
    Upstairs she found her father and his friends talking quietly. At the sight of her stunned face, Lord Barnett rose to his feet. “Shall I leave the two of you alone?” he asked.
    Emmaline put out a hand to stop him. “No. Please. This concerns you as much as my father, I believe. Papa, is it true that you wish me to marry Jeremy Barnett?”
    “I wish you to marry whomever you will. You know I have never pressed you to choose against your own inclinations. But I did think you liked the boy,” Sir Osbert countered. “Has Jeremy said he wishes to marry you?”
    Emmaline nodded and he went on, “What did you tell him?”
    Her eyes began to dance. “I didn’t answer. I was too astonished, I’m afraid, to do so.”
    “Do you very much dislike the idea?” Gilbert asked, his expression held rigidly impassive.
    Emmaline turned to face her father’s friend. “No,” she said honestly, “I cannot say that I dislike the notion. I have long felt a tendre for your son. But I knew that was a foolish fantasy and I did not expect him to feel the same. Indeed, before today I should have said he was all but unaware of my existence save as a sort of annoying younger sister, unrelated though we may be.”
    Lord Barnett coughed. “Yes, well, young men do not always wear their hearts upon their sleeves. Nevertheless I must say the match has my approval. I think it would answer very well, both for you, Emmaline, and for my son Jeremy.”
    “I should like it as well,” Sir Osbert said quietly. “You know I’ve always had a fondness for the boy and for you. If you married Jeremy, then I should not have to worry what will happen to you when I die. But the decision is yours, Emmaline. I should never wish to press you into anything you would find distasteful.”
    Emmaline looked at Lord Barnett. “Is he serious in his proposal, your son?”
    “Very serious,” Barnett answered gravely.
    “Why now? Why so suddenly?” she persisted.
    “He is aware of my condition, that is part of it, but that doesn’t matter,” Sir Osbert broke in to say. “I think you will find, my dear, that if you accept Jeremy Barnett, he will do his best to see you happy.”
    Emmaline hesitated, then bent over to kiss her father’s forehead. “Then I shall accept Jeremy’s proposal, Papa. And I confess that I feel myself in some sort of wonderful dream. Shall I bring him back upstairs now?”
    Sir Osbert’s eyes twinkled perceptibly as he replied, “After you have given Jeremy suitable time to reply to your acceptance, my dear. After all, he may wish to express his pleasure,