The Earl's Design of Love: The Stenwick Siblings Read Online Free PDF Page A

Percy looked over at Diana with a smile when the teams were announced.  No one knew Stenwick Manor quite as well as he did.  If Diana proved to be at all competitive, the two of them should win easily.  If she didn’t prove to be competitive, well, he would have hours alone in her company.
    As soon as they received their first clue, Diana and Percy headed out the back door.  “What’s the clue?” he asked.
    Diana looked down and read aloud.  “Find a place where you won’t have to say ‘nay.’  You will find your next clue under something to keep warm.”  She looked at him with a frown.  “Not a very original clue, I’m afraid.”
    Percy shook his head.  “Mother isn’t known for her wit.”
    “The stable?  The horses say ‘neigh’ for us?”
    “That would be my guess.”  He offered her his arm, and the two set out for the stable. 
    Neither felt the need to rush, so they enjoyed the scenery around them as they walked, taking in the sunshine and the fresh air.  It was a beautiful spring day.  The flowers were in bloom, and Diana was enjoying getting to know the estate.  “Have you lived here all your life?” she asked.
    He nodded.  “We have a townhouse in London that I frequented during the Season until I went off to Eton.  I left Oxford as soon as my father died and came back here.  My mother and sisters still spend most of their time in London, but I prefer the country life.”
    “I’ve lived in London my whole life, but it’s always a dream to be in the country.  I never feel as if I fit in at the parties.”  She sighed, kicking at a stone on the path they were walking.  “It’s gotten to the point when I walk into a ballroom, I’m ostracized.  People think I’m some sort of a witch, and I hate it.”  She knew it was partially her own fault for trying to help others, but she couldn’t just sit back and let people make doomed marriages.
    Percy looked at her with surprise.  “I didn’t realize it was that bad for you.”
    Diana nodded.  “The men avoid me, because they’re afraid they’ll fall under my ‘spell.’  The women avoid me because so many of their men have been ‘taken by me.’  My whole purpose is to keep the wrong people from marrying and being miserable, but I’ve obviously gone about it all wrong.”
    “I wish you could have stopped the wedding between Anthony and Gabriella.  As beautiful as she is, she makes his life a living hell.  I tried to warn him, but he wouldn’t listen.”  He’d known Gabriella slightly before his friend had married her, and he’d seen her toy with the affections of man after man.  She’d wanted to marry a duke, though, and she’d done it.
    She sighed.  “One of the limitations of my abilities is that I can see when people are wrong for each other, but I can’t see why.  For instance, I knew that Gabriella and Anthony didn’t belong together, but I didn’t know why until I saw Gabriella with Sir George Pendleton.  Those two belong together.  Their purple was almost as deep as ours.”   She didn’t add that she knew who Anthony should have married as well.
    He thought about that for a moment.  “So it’s not that either of them are bad people.  They just make each other miserable.  They could both be very happy with other people.”
    “That’s right.  Think of it this way.  I could never be happy married to a person who was selfish and thought only of his own needs.  That would make me crazy.  But there are some women, who are such nurturers, they want someone they can shower their love on.  They would be miserable with a man who was a giver, because they couldn’t shower him with love.  Does that make sense?”
    Percy nodded.  “I never really thought about it that way.  I guess I always thought that two ‘good’ people would be a perfect match but not necessarily.”   He was learning a great deal from her as they talked about how to make a good match.  Who’d have thought it