The Wagered Bride Read Online Free PDF

papers."
    Roderick
let out a low whistle. "William Shelby? That rich cit who made his money
in spices?"
    Stephen
grimaced. "The very one, but if you dare take one step in that direction,
I will tell Jane of your dalliance with that opera singer. Arabella, was it
not?"
    "That...
that was years ago," the duke stammered.
    "But
you know women. I mean what I say. Stay out of this."
    With
Roderick sputtering about the injustice of younger siblings, Stephen glanced
over his shoulder for the last word. "And forget I ever asked you for a
thing. Because if you think I will ever come begging for a loan again, I will
die first."
    Slamming
the library door, Stephen strode down the hall. He would gain back Creighton
Hall if it killed him. He would never hurt his mother. And then there was Lady
Odette 
    "Stephen."
    He spun
on his heels. "Mother?"
    The lady
stood before him dressed in a gown of blue sapphire, her arms holding her
fluffy white feline Egypt against her shoulder. "Were you going to leave
without saying hello?"
    Stephen
came forward and kissed his mother's cheek. "I confess it was not well
done of me, was it? Where is Bringston?"
    Stephen's
mother had recently married Lord Bringston, a man who had loved the duchess
from afar for years. Though Stephen's father, the duke, had been dead for
almost four years, Stephen could still recall the pain his mother had endured
at the notion of the duke loving another in the course of their marriage.
    His
father's death had plagued Stephen every day the past four years. Stephen had
argued with the duke minutes before the man had taken that fatal fall from his
horse. The quarrel had dwelled on the manner in which the duke had treated his
wife.
    Stephen
had asked the duke why he had even married his mother. The man's anger had
escalated to monumental proportions as he told his youngest son that his heart
had always belonged to another, and Stephen had no right to interfere in his
life or his mother's. In that moment, Stephen vowed to marry for love.
    His
mother let out a sigh of delight at the mention of her new husband. "Alas,
my love is visiting his estates the next few weeks and I decided to help Jane
acclimate to Elbourne Hall. However, duty will soon return me to Town to be
with Emily."
    Emily
was Stephen's younger sister, and in a month or so she would be having his
mother's first grandchild. Emily had finally married Lord Stonebridge, a suitor
once rejected by the duke.
    His
mother's smile soon turned to a frown as she shifted her cat in her arms.
"You know, Egypt is getting ever so heavy lately. Don't know what's come
over her."
    Stephen
gave the mewing feline a knowing look but prevented himself from saying
anything more. Letting out the secret that the cat was going to have kittens in
the near future would put the house in an uproar—something Jane did not need at
the moment.
    "I
wanted to tell you," his mother went on, "I will be visiting
Creighton Hall when my dear husband returns." Her eyes softened with
emotion. "I intend to show him the tree I played on when I was small. The
swing is still there, is it not?"
    Stephen
pulled at his cravat. "Creighton Hall?"
    "Rope
must be frayed to pieces by now," his mother sighed.
    "Indeed,"
he muttered. "Frayed to everlasting hell."
    "What
was that?"
    "It
will be swinging like a bell, Mother. I will spend my last farthing on that
swing. See if I don't."
    She
kissed his cheek. "Don't go to too much trouble now."
    "It's
no trouble, Mother." The light in his mother's eyes sank his spirits to a
new low. "No trouble at all."
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
    W hile most of the guests were settling
into their chambers at Harmstead Hall, Elizabeth was on a mission to acquire a
rope long enough to lower her trunk from her chamber window to the ground
below.
    It was
early afternoon and a crisp cool wind blew across the courtyard as she hurried
to the stables. She lifted her face to the cloudless blue sky and hoped the
weather would stay fair, for tonight she