A Chance Encounter by Mary Balogh Read Free Book Online Page A

despising her before that invitation. Elizabeth was very inclined not to go, but she really did feel it her responsibility to keep an eye on Cecily. Anyway, the man had dared her to go, had he not?
    Why was he so hostile? Elizabeth was completely puzzled. She might have expected him to be embarrassed after the way he had treated her. But hostile?
    Their newfound love had developed slowly after that night when, finding themselves unexpectedly alone together, they had kissed. For several weeks they had met as frequently as before, but always in public. Their friendship had grown. Soon Elizabeth had considered him to be her closest friend. She looked forward to meeting him. With him she felt free to pour out her innermost thoughts. It was to him she had confided her worries over her father, who was drinking more and sinking further and further into debt. She had confided her worries over her beloved John, her fear that when the time came, he would have no estate to inherit.
    After his one declaration of love, Robert had not broached the matter again for several weeks. Only a new tenderness in his eyes and an occasional squeeze of the hand had convinced her that she had not imagined the episode at the ball. Finally he had spoken. He had invited her to drive with him in the park. He had chosen paths that were somewhat less public than the promenade that all the ton frequented on afternoons when it did not rain.
    â€œElizabeth,” he had begun, “you believe that I love you, do you not?”
    â€œYes,” she had replied, looking across at him. He was tight-lipped and frowning, an unusual expression for him.
    â€œYou must wonder why I have made no reference to the feet in three whole weeks,” he had continued, his voice strained. “After my behavior on that one evening, I owed you an offer of marriage the next morning.”
    â€œNo,” she had said. “I kissed you too, Robert, and I do not believe we did anything so very wrong. I should hate to think that any man felt obliged to offer for me merely because he had kissed me.”
    â€œYou misunderstand,” he had said, distressed. “I want to marry you, Elizabeth. God, how I wish to marry you! But I am afraid I cannot.”
    Elizabeth had stared at him, wide-eyed.
    His eyes had gone hard. “My father is not wealthy,” he had said, “and I depend entirely upon him for my living. He opposes my taking any sort of employment and keeps me very much in leading strings. When I am five and twenty, I shall inherit the money left me by my mother. It is not by any means a fortune, but I shall be able to be independent on it.”
    â€œYou do not need to tell me all this, Robert,” Elizabeth had said doubtfully.
    â€œOh, yes, I do,” he had answered viciously. “Do you not see what has happened? For three weeks I have been trying to persuade my father to allow me to make you an offer. It will not do. I must dangle after an heiress. It is useless to argue that I am a mere younger son, that if he were to turn over my mother’s money to me now, as he could if he wished, he would be free of responsibility for me. I must marry wealth. I appealed to my uncle, my father’s younger brother, to intercede for me. Uncle Horace was always an indulgent man when I was younger. But he is worse than Papa. He believes that I should marry both position and fortune. He is as rich as Croesus, by the way. I can see no way out, Elizabeth, except to ask you to wait for three years. I can hardly expect that of you.”
    â€œThree years is a long time, Robert,” she had replied. “Anything can happen in that time to change the situation. For now, it is enough to know that you love me.” But she had been painfully aware that this was probably the only Season in London that she would be allowed, that they might have to spend three years without even seeing each other before they could wed.
    Robert had drawn his horses almost