Anne Ashley by His Makeshift Wife Read Free Book Online Page B

when your aunt took
me on a visit to Kent. Giles, like yourself, was at Oxford, so I never met him.
His death was due to a riding accident, was it not?’
    He nodded. ‘Yes, poor fellow,’ he said softly, and there could
be no mistaking the sincerity in the deep voice. ‘It could have happened to
anyone, I suppose, but he was the very last person I would have expected to meet
his maker that way. He was a fine horseman, one of the best I’ve ever come
across.’
    ‘You were evidently very fond of him,’ she remarked, never
having considered the relationship between the two cousins before.
    ‘When a boy, I spent very nearly as much time at Kingsley Hall
as I did here at the Manor. Giles and I were much of an age, attended the same
school and, as you rightly mentioned, were up at Oxford together. We were more
like brothers than cousins,’ he revealed, before he raised his eyes to discover
a pair the same shade as cornflowers regarding him keenly.
    His response was to grasp the decanter again, smiling
crookedly. ‘But, I digress. What you really wish to know is just why I was
willing to marry you. And to be brutally frank, m’dear, it was for the simple
reason the Manor offered me the perfect retreat, the ideal sanctuary. You see,
there is a certain lady of my acquaintance that I’m finding
increasingly—er—wearisome.’
    The contemptuous curl that instantly appeared at one side of a
very shapely feminine mouth revealed clearly enough that snippets of gossip
appearing in newspapers had most assuredly been perused under the Manor’s roof
in recent months.
    He gazed resolutely down into his glass again, doing his utmost
to suppress a twitching smile. ‘As I had no desire to be called to account by
the understandably aggrieved spouse, thereby causing a major scandal, I decided
it might be wise to abandon the metropolis before I was summoned to pistols at
dawn, so to speak.’
    ‘Such an edifying tale!’ she muttered, quite unequal to keeping
the derision oozing from each word. She hurriedly got to her feet, deciding it
might be wise to leave before she allowed the contempt she felt induce her to
say more than was wise.
    He made no attempt to stop her this time, and succeeded in
bidding her a pleasant goodnight before she had whisked herself quite speedily
from the room. The instant the door had been closed quietly behind her, the
faintly inane look he had adopted during the past few minutes vanished
completely, and the earnest expression of a gentleman contemplating some
ticklish problems took possession of his features.
    * * *
    After arriving at the bedchamber that had been her
private retreat for so many very contented years, Briony discovered not the
young maid Alice awaiting her, as expected, and didn’t attempt to hide her
surprise at finding Janet tidying away some freshly laundered garments.
    ‘What on earth are you doing here? I imagined you would have
been putting your feet up, after taking all the trouble to prepare that
delicious dinner this evening. No doubt you’ll be pleased to hear your new lord
and master thought the meal couldn’t have been bettered,’ she added, seating
herself before her dressing-table mirror in order to begin removing the pins
from her hair.
    ‘That was very good of Master Luke to say so,’ Janet responded,
appearing well pleased with the compliment on her culinary skills, ‘although no
more than I would have expected from such a thoughtful gentleman. But even so…’
She shot a considering look at her young mistress through the mirror, as she
lent a helping hand to take down the long chestnut tresses. ‘I—I thought you’d
mayhap be grateful for a word or two of comfort from an older woman…this being
your wedding night and all, and you not having had a mother to guide you, so to
speak.’
    It took Briony a moment only to appreciate to what her dear
Janet was alluding. It was perfectly true that she had no very real idea of what
took place in the marriage bed, her