Captive by Joan Johnston Read Free Book Online Page B

else before I leave?”
    Charlotte caressed the smooth buckskin inseam on her best riding breeches one last time and said, “No thank you, Theobald. But …” She turned to the earl and said, “Do you think you could give the breeches away instead of burning them? There are several boys in the village—”
    “See to it, Theobald,” the earl said.
    “Yes, my lord. Will there be anything else?”
    The earl gestured to Charlotte, and Theobald turned to see if she needed any further assistance.
    “There is one more thing,” Charlotte began. Too late she realized this probably was not the time to bring up this subject. But the earl and his valet continued to stare at her, so she blurted, “Theobald needs a raise.”
    “What?” the earl exclaimed.
    Theobald’s face turned red as a boiled crayfish. Charlotte had eaten a lot of them in New Orleans, so she was a good judge of the color.
    “My lord, I would never deign to suggest—”
    “Stubble it, Theobald.” The earl turned to Charlotte and said, “That is an unusual request, Lady Charlotte. I wondered if you might have some particular reason for making it.”
    “Well, Mrs. Tinsworthy told me Theobald’s sister has gotten herself in the family way and her man has been gone to India for ever so long and she has just heard that the natives
killed
him, and she has No Hope except her brother. And though Theobald has been the most frugal of men, he simply hasn’t enough to be of any real help. So she is going to have to go to the poorhouse and give her babe to an orphanage.
    “So you see, you are his Only Hope,” she said dramatically.
    “Is this true, Theobald?” the earl asked.
    “Essentially, yes, my lord.”
    “Consider the matter taken care of, Lady Charlotte.”
    Charlotte flashed the earl a grin and gave Theobald a hug. The poor man nearly expired from apoplexy on the spot. He escaped as quickly as he could and left the room without another word. Charlotte thought it was because he was overcome by the earl’s generosity. She felt the same way herself.
    “You can be a kind man,” she pointed out to him. “If you would only try a little harder.”
    The earl’s lips flattened. The kind look went away.
    “If you have accomplished the purpose of your visit, you may leave,” he said.
    “Oh, but there’s more,” she said.
    “I was afraid of that.”
    She dropped onto the foot of his bed and heard him gasp as his leg bounced under the covers. “Oops! I’ll be more careful.”
    “You shouldn’t be sitting on my bed at all,” he said. “You shouldn’t even be in this room without a chaperon.”
    “I’ll be quick,” she said, jumping to her feet.
    He groaned as his leg got jostled again.
    “Oh, I’m so very sorry,” she said.
    “I’m sure you are,” he said. “I believe that’s what brought you here in the first place,” he reminded her.
    “Oh, yes. Well. You may have noticed that Ihave decided to defer to your wishes regarding the dresses and the breeches.”
    “I have.”
    “I will even ride sidesaddle,” she conceded.
    “Very commendable.”
    “But I think, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather choose a husband who will like me just the way I am. I’m perfectly willing to buy my freedom from your authority with matrimony, but that won’t do me much good if I end up married to another tyrant.”
    She realized, when he scowled, that perhaps
tyrant
was not a politic word to use. “I mean, another man as inflexible as you.”
Inflexible
drew a tic in his cheek.
    She tried once more. “I mean, I want a husband who will love me for who I am.” This time he looked incredulous.
    “Where are you planning to find such a paragon?” the earl asked.
    “I hear there are a lot of men to choose from in London.”
    “How are you planning to get there?”
    “You’re going to take me, of course.”
    For another half hour, until she could see the earl’s leg was paining him too much to continue, they discussed her needs and his