Married to the Viscount by Sabrina Jeffries Read Free Book Online

mine.” She ventured another comment. “But maybe your brother wasn’t happy about your reluctance to marry. Could that have made him marry you off without your knowledge, to sort of force you into it? I understand that the English insist on the eldest son doing his duty to marry and produce an heir.”
    He gave a terse nod. “That’s because the eldest inherits everything. Which means younger sons are more likely to thwart their elder brothers in marrying than to help them. If the eldest doesn’t sire an heir, the next in line inherits. So younger sons resent the eldest, they stage petty rebellions against them, and in extreme cases they try to eliminate them. But they don’t help them to acquire wives.”

    “Then I’m stumped. If he wanted to steal the dowry and the company, he shouldn’t have paid for our passage here. But if he had some noble motive, he shouldn’t have stolen the dowry and the company. It makes no sense to me, none of it. Only he can explain why he did it.”
    “And he’s not around,” Lord Ravenswood said dryly.
    A discreet knock at the study door jolted them both. Lord Ravenswood strode to the door and opened it enough to reveal the butler standing there.
    “My lord, your dinner guests are…er…”
    “Growing restless. Yes, I imagine they are. Give me a moment, McFee.”
    “Very good, my lord.” The butler started to leave, then held out a sheaf of papers. “Oh, and I relieved Lady Evelina of these. I thought you might prefer to have them in your own possession.”
    Even from where she sat, Abby recognized the letters and the marriage certificate. Lord Ravenswood took them with a grim nod. “Thank you, McFee. Good work.”
    After the butler left and his lordship closed the door, he tossed the papers on the leather-lined top of a nearby library table. He stared at them a long moment, then lifted his gaze to her. “We can’t unravel this tangle tonight. I have to get rid of my guests, and you and your servant probably need a meal and a good night’s sleep.”
    “Now that you mention it, that does sound wonderful.”
    “You’ll stay here, of course, and in the morning we’ll figure out how to proceed. By then I may have located my brother.”
    Though tempted by hunger and sheer exhaustion to simply acquiesce to his will, she felt obliged to say, “If you’d prefer that we go to a hotel, we will.” Then, remembering that his brother had stolen her dowry, she added tartly, “But you’ll have to pay for it, since your brother left me with little money.”

    A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m truly sorry about that. I assure you that no matter what happens, you’ll be compensated for your financial loss.” He ran his finger over the marriage certificate and added dryly, “This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve paid my brother’s debts, I assure you.”
    Now she was a “debt.” Wonderful. But given his generosity, she shouldn’t complain. The warm and friendly gentleman she’d thought she was marrying wouldn’t have left her destitute, but who knew what a great English lord might do if he chose to be nasty? “I don’t want to burden you. If you’ll simply advance me some funds for my lodgings—”
    “Nonsense, giving you a place to stay is the least I can do.” He smiled ruefully. “Besides, if I send my ‘wife’ to a hotel, the gossips will never stop squawking about it.”
    She shot him a startled glance. “Do you plan to continue this farce?”
    “To be honest, Miss Mercer, I don’t know what my plans are. Thanks to your chatty servant, the twenty-six people in my dining room have undoubtedly been discussing my new wife for the past half hour. I can hardly put that cat back in the bag.”
    “So what will you tell them? The truth?” And what did he mean, her “chatty servant”? What exactly had Mrs. Graham said during Abby’s mortifying faint?
    “No, certainly not the truth. But I’ll come up with something to buy time until I decide what to