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

possible?
    “I’m always surprised at who does make good matches.  I’ve tried to help young ladies at balls by suggesting they set their cap for the gentleman who has a purple aura with them, but they always seem to want the reds.  I guess it’s human nature to want what’s bad for you.  Like a woman on a slimming regimen who wants nothing but sweets.”   She shrugged as if she’d never understand the people around her.
    He laughed.  “I would never compare a woman on a slimming regimen to a woman who is looking for her soul mate, but I can see what you mean.”  He stopped talking as they stepped into the stable.  He walked to his favorite stallion and lifted the blanket hanging on his stall door.  Sure enough, there were several envelopes under it, so he took the one with his name written with Diana’s.  It seemed odd to him to see their names written together that way, but at the same time, it felt so right.  “Let’s see if she does better on this one.”  He scanned it and shook his head.  “If you go to an octagonal building and look up, you will find your next clue.”
    “Lead the way to the gazebo, my lord!”   Diana did her best not to laugh at the clue.
    “Mother needs serious help if she ever does this again.  Her clues, well, they leave a lot to be desired.” He shook his head, hoping that he’d never be involved in a scavenger hunt again.  He was enjoying this one, of course, but only because Diana was beside him.
    Diana smiled.  “At least she’s trying?”
    They hadn’t seen any of the other couples while they were out.  “Do you think anyone else is even trying to win this?” he asked, scanning the grounds for the others.
    She shrugged.  “This is a ‘getting to know you’ exercise.  Hopefully people are getting to know each other.”  She didn’t particularly care if they won or not.  Getting to know him was the only thing she was even considering at that moment.
    “Not too well, I hope.  My sisters are half of those other couples.”  He frowned as they walked.  “Do you know if the men with them are good for them?”
    She looked at him in surprise.  “Do you know I wasn’t paying attention to auras at all?  Well, except to your mother’s.”  She shrugged, half surprised at herself.  She had been so caught up with him that she hadn’t done what she considered her duty.
    He stopped short.  “My mother’s?” 
    She shrugged.  “She and the vicar?  I know they’re not of the same social class, and should never marry, but…well, they’re a good match.”
    He let out a bark of laughter.  “My mother and the vicar? ”  He couldn’t imagine his mother married to a vicar.  She was the last person who should marry beneath her with her feelings of superiority.
    “I said I don’t think it should happen!”
    He shook his head.  “No, I think it should!  She was never happy with my father.  I mean, what woman is truly happy in her marriage?”  He looked at her for a moment.  “You truly believe she’d be happy married to the vicar?” 
    “I don’t know.  I know that he’s a good match for her, but I don’t know that she would be happy married to him, because she would lose her social status, and that’s obviously very important to her.”
    He put her arm through his again and started toward the gazebo.  “My mother and the vicar.”  He smiled down at her as they walked.  “Who else have you seen that should be together but isn’t?”
    She laughed softly.  “Well, there was one society matron who was a red with her husband, but a purple with her butler.”   She didn’t mention who, because it was just too naughty, but she enjoyed sharing her little secrets with him.
    Percy let out another laugh.  “You know, I don’t think I’ve laughed as much as I have with you in the whole time since my father died?”
    “Do you miss him?”  Diana couldn’t imagine life without her parents.  They drove her mad at times,