The Greatest Lover in All England Read Online Free PDF Page A

resisted, but Tony took the girl’s wandering hands off his shoulders and tried to straighten his ruff. “Go with your father, sweetheart. I’ll see you…later.”
    Her eyes glistened ever brighter from the tears that filled them, and she blinked, using her eyelashes the way a señorita used a fan. “But, Tony—”
    As if she were a pet, he tapped her nose with his finger. “Later.”
    â€œBut you promised—”
    He had promised her nothing, nor would he until he’d made his choice. Every one of the girls at his house party longed to be the woman in his arms, and quite a few had been. He’d been experimenting—a kiss here, a clasp of passion there—trying to decide which of the noblewomen would be his bride.
    It wasn’t the act of an honorable gentleman, but Tony prided himself on being neither honorable nor a gentleman. He still smiled as he handed Blanche over to her father. “I would love to continue our discussion, sweetling, but the audience grows.” He waved a broad hand at the two older ladies who stood tapping their feet in the manicured grass. “My sisters await me.”
    Lord Bothey snatched Blanche by the arm before she could protest further, and marched her away.
    â€œTony, have you run mad?”
    He shushed Jean and waited until the lagging Blanche turned to look at him. He blew her a kiss, wiped her from his mind, and said, “If I marry Blanche, she’ll learn to keep her kisses for me. She’s too free with them.”
    â€œYou won’t marry her,” Jean said.
    â€œProbably not. Her father’s only a baron, and with his uncouth ways he’s likely to offend the queen. I can’t have that in a father-in-law.” Graciously, he agreed. “You’re right, Jean, I won’t marry her.”
    â€œThat’s good,” said Ann, his other sister. She beamed at him from beneath heavy brows. “I’m glad you’re showing some sense.”
    â€œIs he?” Jean knew her brother well, and so never believed the best of him. “Is he indeed?”
    Tony smiled his winsome smile.
    â€œDon’t give me that disarming look,” Jean said. “You’re going to be scolded.”
    â€œScolded?” He wrapped each of his diminutive sisters in a bear hug. “Why would you ladies want to scold me?”
    â€œBecause you have run mad. You’ve been kissing every maiden here.” Jean struggled out from his clutches to shake her finger at him. “Their fathers are threatening to leave.”
    â€œYou’re causing a scandal.” Ann unwrapped his arm from around her neck and skipped in front of him down the path. “No one knew why you’d invited half of the nobles in England here for a party, but they’re wiser now. Every family you invited has a marriageable daughter.”
    â€œTrue.” He lifted an amused brow and allowed Jean to tug him to a halt.
    â€œAnd like a codpiece, you’re trying on every one for size.”
    â€œA crude analogy.” He tried to sound severe.
    â€œYou’re a crude man,” Ann answered. “The parents of these maidens are frightened.”
    â€œBut the maidens aren’t.”
    â€œOh, no.” Jean snorted with disgust. “They’re twittering like a flock of starlings every time you pass.”
    He dredged his soul for modesty, but he had neverlearned the art of self-deception. He had a way with women, he knew, especially when he chose to exert himself. “I’m twenty-eight. ’Tis time I took a wife.”
    â€œWe have no argument with that.” Jean pushed him down onto a marble bench. “’Tis the suggestion we’ve been making since you came back from the Continent. If you had done so when you returned, bathed in Her Majesty’s praise and loaded with her rewards, you could have had any woman in the kingdom. But Tony, that was five years ago.”
    He