The Suitor Read Online Free PDF

mother jumped to her feet.
    “Come and sit down, my love,” she said, hurrying toward her daughter.
    “No,” Philippa said, “thank you. I—I would rather take a turn outside and breathe in some fresh air if I may be excused. It has turned into such a lovely day.”
    “I will come with you,” her mother said.
    “I beg you will not.” Philippa looked distressed again. “I would rather—”
    “If I may be permitted,” Julian said. “My presence here in this room is decidedly de trop. But it would be my pleasure to escort Miss Dean into the garden before the house if her maid will chaperon her.”
    “That is both tactful and kind of you, Mr. Crabbe,” elderly Mrs. Pearl said even as Mr. Dean opened his mouth to speak. “You are a relative of the Redfords of Bath, are you not? And a nephew of the Duke of Stanbrook, did you say? His heir, I believe?”
    “I have that honor, ma’am.” Julian inclined his head to her. “Mr. Redford is my mother’s brother.” He looked beyond her to Mr. Dean, who was frowning at him. “With your permission, sir, I will escort Miss Dean into the garden before I resume my journey.”
    “This has all been too much for you, Miss Dean,” one of Darleigh’s sisters said. “Oh, just wait until I get my hands upon that brother of mine.”
    “If you will be so good,” Mr. Dean said to Julian, still frowning. “My daughter’s maid will be sent for.”
    And Julian crossed the distance to the window and offered his arm—and she slid her hand through it and for a moment the world stood still.
    Her eyes met his, and it seemed to him that the world stopped for her too.
    “Thank you, sir,” she murmured, and he led her from the room while everyone watched with deep concern.
    They walked along the wide corridor to the great hall without speaking. He led her through the double doors, down the flight of marble steps to the terrace, and across it to the parterres of the flower garden. A young woman, presumably her maid, came scurrying after them but remained on the terrace.
    He drew air into his lungs and allowed himself to feel elation. She was free .
    “Julian,” she said softly.
    “Philippa.” He looked down at her and saw that color had taken the place of paleness in her cheeks. And her eyes were bright. “My love.”
    “They thought it was because Viscount Darleigh has run off rather than marry me,” shesaid, “when in reality it was because the butler came into the room and Mrs. Hunt took your card from his tray and said your name. And then you came.”
    “Did you think I would not?” he asked her.
    She turned her face up to his.
    “Just yesterday,” she said, “I was out here with him . He is charming and good-natured and very likable, and I played horrid games with him. I am ashamed of myself.”
    “Games?”
    “I did what I could see most annoys him when his family does it,” she told him, “though he is always cheerful and well mannered and patient with them. I spoke to him as though he were an invalid, I agreed with everything he said, and I offered him help even when he did not need it and resented it. I drove him away.”
    “Are you sure?” he asked her. “Those seem very small, very subtle things, especially if he is accustomed to such treatment from his family.”
    “He told me,” she said, “that he was convinced the earth was flat, that the experts had got it wrong all those centuries ago when they apparently discovered that it is a sphere. He said it was obvious to an idiot that if one walked to the horizon one would fall off the edge. And I agreed with him .”
    He grinned at her. “He is an idiot, then?”
    “Far from it,” she said. “He was goading me. He was playing games with me as surely as I was with him. I strongly suspected it at the time and was even more sure last night in bed when I thought it all over. I decided to do today what I was tempted to do yesterday—tell him the truth and beg him not to offer for me, for I was