And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke Read Free Book Online

beside his plate. “We’re having music after dinner. Nan is going to sing for us.”
    He gave the musically inclined Lady Nan a smile. “How lovely, Mama. I shall do my best, but I’m afraid I can’t promise something won’t come up to detain me.” He bowed and was out the door before Louisa could reply. Giving a deep sigh of relief, he walked from the dining room to the foyer.
    “My carriage, Jackson,” he instructed, “and fetch me when it arrives. I’ll be in my study.”
    “Very good, my lord.” The butler signaled for a footman, and Harry crossed the foyer to his study, where he promptly dropped the Social Gazette into the wastepaper basket. He’d read as much of its pompous self-importance as he could stomach for one morning. First thing he’d do when he bought the thing was liven it up. And he was determined to buy it. He was convinced if he gave it a more modern slant, he could make it profitable. And its location, a four-story brick building right across from his own offices, was perfect for expansion. Of course, scoring over Barringer had a sweet satisfaction all its own. Sooner or later, the earl would have to give in. It was only a matter of time.
    He opened his dispatch case, intending toplace the newspapers of his other competitors inside so that he could read them on the way to his offices, but he paused at the sight of a stack of manuscript pages tied with twine.
    Miss Dove’s new book.
    He’d promised to look the thing over while in Berkshire, but upon his arrival there, he’d promptly forgotten all about it, deeming fishing a far more amusing pastime than anything written by Miss Dove. It would take about ten minutes for his driver to bring his carriage around front from the mews. That, he knew from previous experience with Miss Dove’s manuscripts, was about nine and one-half minutes more than he needed to keep his promise and verify what he already suspected.
    He pulled the manuscript out of his dispatch case, sat down at his desk, and untied the twine. Then he curled his fingers under a section of the stack and opened it to a random page.
    The tiniest flat, possessed of not a single ray of afternoon sunlight to brighten it, can be transformed into a most inviting nest at very little cost, if the girl-bachelor employs her innate good sense and ingenuity. And, of course, if she knows where to shop.
    Harry closed the manuscript. Dull as a scullery maid’s dishrag, just as he’d known it would be. Poor Miss Dove just couldn’t seem to understand that nobody wanted to read this sort of piffle.
    He tied up the twine, put the manuscript backin his case, and pulled out his appointment book, which had been delivered to his doorstep yesterday in anticipation of his return, with all his engagements listed in his secretary’s perfect copperplate script.
    He grimaced at the first notation. A meeting with his book editors. That monthly conference was always such a delight. Harry thought about giving it a miss altogether—after all, he did own the company. But if he wasn’t there to keep them in line, his editors would run amok, deciding to publish God only knows what. It didn’t bear thinking about. When Jackson announced his carriage was out front, Harry accepted his hat, resigned himself to the inevitable, and went to his offices. Because of his hasty departure from the breakfast table, he arrived at his offices on Bouverie Street well ahead of his meeting.
    Miss Dove stood up when he came in. “Good morning, sir,” she greeted him. “You are early today.”
    “Shocking, I know,” he said. “Domestic difficulties, Miss Dove.”
    “I am sorry to hear that. There are several good agencies, if your house keeper or butler is short of domestic staff. I can—”
    “Not that sort of domestic difficulty. This particular problem won’t be solved by an agency, I fear, unless you can find one that will locate husbands for all my sisters and get them out of my house.” He paused, as if