Cheryl Holt by Deeper than Desire Read Free Book Online Page A

able to put it back on.
    Previously, she’d proven that she couldn’t trust herself, that given the slightest provocation, she could and would commit any licentious act. Hadn’t she learned any lessons from the past?
    With a groan of dismay, she peeked into the hallway. There were no servants about, so she sneaked out and made for the stairs and the safety of her room.
    Because she’d been feeling blue and housebound, she’d let the beautiful weather lure her outside, but it wouldn’t happen again. She mustn’t cross paths with the earl, mustn’t say or do anything that might encourage him. Her degraded spirit, and lack of morality, couldn’t be allowed to taint Olivia’s chances.
    She owed it to the family; she owed it to herself, and she would not relent.

C HAPTER F OUR
    Margaret sipped her morning chocolate, mentally arranging her day. She’d been up since dawn, and she was dressed, her hair done, but she hadn’t exited her room, for she didn’t want others to know how early she’d risen. It wasn’t fashionable, so people would have found the conduct odd, and if there was one thing she insisted upon, it was exemplary behavior.
    As the daughter of a baron, who had wed and buried two earls, she had an image to maintain.
    Sleep didn’t come easily anymore. Too many worries plagued her, and as usual, this most recent debacle had fallen squarely on her shoulders. It was up to her to save them all, and the unwanted burden made her furious. Just once, couldn’t others have carried the load? She’d had two exalted husbands, neither of whom had been worth the price of the suits in which they’d been interred, and what did she have to show for it?
    Not two pennies to rub together!
    They’d both been scalawags, prone to overindulgence in strong drink, gambling, and strumpets. She’d put up with their shenanigans, and where had it left her? With no assets, and a mound of debt she couldn’t hope to pay off in ten lifetimes! That’s where!
    If Olivia didn’t come up to scratch in their quest to snag Lord Salisbury, Margaret couldn’t predict what she might do. She wasn’t about to let poverty degrade her as it had Winnie, yet Olivia had less ambition than anyone she’dever met, and she had no knack for flirtation or wooing.
    Why couldn’t she buckle down and apply herself to the task?
    Well, if Olivia couldn’t figure out how to beguile Edward, maybe Penelope could, though the prospect was remote. At sixteen, Penny was too young to assume the onus of being a wife, or to execute the duties of countess. Besides, Margaret didn’t aim to settle for a lowly earl as her son-in-law.
    She had much grander aspirations for her daughter.
    With Penny’s parentage and looks, coupled with a sufficient amount of plotting and positioning, she could be a duchess, or a princess.
    Who knew where the road might take them? Queen, perhaps?
    There was no end to the benefits of an advantageous marriage, and Margaret was willing to do whatever was necessary to catapult Penny into the maximum union, but first things first. And that meant having their finances stabilized, their immediate futures assured, so that she could focus her energies on their subsequent destinies.
    At all costs, and before their visit was over, Olivia had to be engaged to the earl. No other conclusion was acceptable.
    Olivia had no clue as to how far their circumstances could plummet, and therefore she had no conception of the drastic decisions that frequently had to be made to guarantee one’s security and that of one’s family.
    Margaret could make those decisions without batting an eye. She’d done it with that horrid baby Winnie had birthed all those years ago, and she’d just done it again with Helen. Back in London, if matters had evolved according to plan, Helen had vanished without a trace.
    When Olivia married Salisbury, there would be noinsane niece to cloud the nuptials, no discovery later on that might lead the earl to feel he’d been duped