No Marriage of Convenience by Elizabeth Boyle Read Free Book Online

money, I’m sure it’s gone by now,” she said, hoping to deter that mercantile look in Aggie’s eyes. “She’s a foolish, silly woman. When this Cousin Felicity laid eyes on Hashim, I thought she was going to have a fit of apoplexy.”
    Aggie leaned back in his chair. “Oh, let me guess. She wanted to see your friend’s tongue.”
    “Of course she did.” Everyone always wanted to see Hashim’s tongue—or rather lack of one.
    “Did he oblige her?”
    Riley’s brows rose. “What do you think?”
    “Oh, how delicious!” Aggie beamed at Hashim. “Did she faint away? Scream? Beg for a second look? Oh my, why do I always miss the great scenes?”
    Her patience thinning, Riley’s hands went to her hips. “Aggie! What you missed was the fact that this new patron of ours has no intention of continuing to assist us. In fact, he rather expects this loan to be repaid.”
    Her declaration stopped Aggie’s theatrics in a flash.
    “Repay our debts?” He rose from his seat, coming eye to eye with her. “How decidedly vulgar of the man! Certainly you’re joking? You’re teasing me in my dotage. Repay our debts to Ashlin—that would take…”
    She finished his lines for him. “Every last farthing we’ve got on hand. Then we’d have to scrap the sets andprops, pawn the costumes and jewelry, and find a buyer for the furniture to come up with the rest.”
    Aggie plopped back down in his seat, and for the first time since Riley had met the man, he remained silent and dumbfounded.
    But silence and Agamemnon were never an easy mix. “And you couldn’t charm him out of this?”
    “Well, in a manner of speaking, my charms have given us a reprieve. You could say Lord Ashlin and I reached an agreement.”
    The man’s brows shot into an indignant V. “Why that villainous motley-minded pumpion! How dare he! I’ll not stand for it. I’ll call the miscreant out for blackmailing you into such a compromising situation. My innocent girl is not a bit of muslin to be handed carte-blanche !” He reached for his sword, a leftover stage prop from Hamlet , and swung it in a wide arc, scattering Riley and Hashim into the far corners. “I’ll skewer the flap-mouthed jolthead for even suggesting the notion!”
    Riley shook her head. “Aggie! Put that sword down.”
    Heedless of anything but his own voice, Aggie continued to prod and pummel their poor furniture, knocking the limbs off his imaginary foe, using every Shakespearean curse in his vast repertoire to decry the new Lord Ashlin.
    “Aggie, that is quite enough!” Riley exclaimed. “Whatever are you ranting about?”
    “Why, Lord Ashlin! How dare he use our debt as a means to force you into becoming his mistress.”
    “You old fool, I never said anything about becoming his mistress. The agreement is that I teach his nieces how to be more charming, like I am on stage. You know, appealing to men so they can find husbands—rich ones.”
    From his open-mouthed expression, Riley would havethought the truth was more repugnant than her being compromised by the Earl.
    “You agreed to do whaaaaat?” he sputtered.
    “You heard me the first time. I’m to tutor his nieces.”
    “Hiring yourself out as a tutor ?” He choked on the last word as if he’d drunk from Romeo’s vial. “Why, it is unheard of! Sharing your talents outside the boards? With one of them ?”
    “Cry and wail all you want, but the deed is done and agreed upon,” she told him.
    Aggie immediately went into a new tirade about the sacred secrets of the stage being given to the audience.
    She wasn’t any more pleased with the idea of tutoring the Earl’s nieces than Aggie, but what choice did she have?
    Riley didn’t want to consider four weeks in Lord Ashlin’s proximity—she found the idea too unsettling. Try as she might to convince herself it was because of his obvious disapproval, she knew what it really was.
    She found the Earl of Ashlin rather distracting.
    While he found her—well, he’d