Promise Me Forever by Lorraine Heath Read Free Book Online Page A

afraid we do. It’s one of the rules you see. Rule number three, I believe.”
    “The rules are numbered?” he asked incredulously.
    “She’s teasing,” Amy said. “There are so manyrules that Lauren took to numbering them shortly after we arrived here. I think she got to number thirty-five before she declared it a hopeless task and stopped.”
    “Did you know you were an earl when we knew you?” Samantha asked.
    “No.”
    “You must tell us everything. We shall, no doubt, be the envy of the Set.”
    Tom despised revealing his ignorance, but he figured it was less embarrassing to display it among folks who’d known him in Texas than around those who hadn’t. “The Set?”
    “My apologies, my lord . I’d forgotten how strange everything can seem at first. The Set. The Marlborough House Set. Fashionable people with whom the Prince of Wales keeps company. Marlborough House is his London residence, of course, and hence responsible for the name associated with those with whom the prince is intimate. They love gossip. And now that we know who you are”—she gave him an impish smile—“I suspect we shall be even more sought out for any juicy tidbits we can provide.”
    He wasn’t at all sure that he liked the sound of that possibility. He hadn’t been there long, but he’d already figured out that he was fodder for gossip.
    “I would think the last thing this family would need is more gossip,” their mother said.
    “That’s the point, Mama,” Samantha said. “The gossip won’t revolve around us any longer—”
    “Spreading gossip often backfires, Samantha,” her mother said, her gaze darting between Tom and Lauren, as though she feared the gossip might run closer to home than she wanted. “We need to prepare for dinner.”
    “I’ve invited Tom to join us,” Ravenleigh said.
    It was strange that Lauren’s mother suddenly looked defeated. She gave Tom what he was certain was a forced smile. “Yes, of course. We’ll be delighted to have you. Come along, girls, we need to prepare ourselves.”
    It didn’t escape his attention that unlike her daughters, she wasn’t prone to refer to him as my lord. He suspected she still viewed him as the callow youth she’d known in Texas.
    As her mother ushered all her daughters out of the room, Lauren gave Tom a parting glance, similar to the ones she’d given him on the street in Fortune. He supposed some things never changed. A mother issuing orders was always a mother to be obeyed.
    “Let’s finish our drinks, shall we?” Ravenleigh suggested.
    Nodding, Tom sat in the chair, took his glass, and sipped on the whiskey that Ravenleigh’s brother had sent him from Texas. It was good to taste the familiar when everything else around him was far too foreign. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, holding the glass in his hands, studying the amber liquid. “You seemed surprisedby Lauren’s announcement that she was making plans to return to Texas.”
    “Quite.”
    Tom lifted his gaze, hoping the man might be a bit more forthcoming.
    “I’m sorry, Tom”—Ravenleigh shook his head—“Sachse. I can’t elaborate, as I have no idea how she’s planning to accomplish this feat.”
    Tom nodded, wondering if he might get a chance to talk with Lauren alone before he left. How long had she been planning to return to Texas? What exactly was it that she’d missed? Obviously it wasn’t him if she was still planning to return now that he was in England.
    “Do you see much of my brother these days?” Ravenleigh asked, effectively steering their conversation off the path that Tom would have preferred it stay on.
    Kit Montgomery was becoming a legend, his daring exploits and pursuit of justice rivaled by few. Once the marshal of Fortune, he remained a partner in the various Texas Lady ventures and a man for whom Tom had a great deal of respect.
    “I don’t see him much since he became a Texas Ranger and moved to the western part of the state,” Tom