Rushed to the Altar by Jane Feather Read Free Book Online

then I will set you up in a house of your own and you will become my public mistress. We will be seen at the theatre, dining in the most select venues, and eventually you will be introduced to society. Once society has accepted you, then the marriage can take place and the conditions of my uncle’s will satisfied.”
    He leaned back and regarded her with a questioningly raised eyebrow. “So, what do you say, Mistress Clarissa?”
    “Is society likely to accept a known harlot as one of its own?”
    “It’s been done before. Courtesans have become the acknowledged mistresses of princes of the blood and on occasion the wives of aristocrats. You have the requisite beauty, and I will provide the necessary training in the courtly arts to ensure that your previous existence will cease to be relevant.”
    Oh, will you?
Clarissa lowered her eyes so that he wouldn’t see their flash of scornful indignation.
What right had he to assume she lacked such an education?
But then she had to admit that her present circumstances probably gave him, if not the right, at least the excuse to assume so. Whereas in fact she had had a rigorous education in all such matters at the hands of a mother who based her own station in life on her position as thethird daughter of an earl, whose marriage to a country squire, albeit a wealthy one, had been something of a comedown. It had been a love match, and remained so throughout her mother’s life, but Lady Lavinia Astley had decided that her daughter should form a union that reflected her maternal lineage and had educated her accordingly.
    Lady Lavinia would be turning in her grave if she could see her only daughter now, discussing such a proposition in the parlor of a Covent Garden brothel. Or would she? The proposition would make a countess of her daughter. Suddenly the absurdity of the paradox was too much. Clarissa began to laugh and once she’d begun she couldn’t stop.
    Jasper stared at her, wondering if he had a hysterical woman on his hands. He was about to summon Nan with smelling salts and water when the paroxysms ceased and she leaned back in her chair, his handkerchief pressed to her eyes.
    “I fail to see what’s so amusing.” He took a sip of wine, unable to disguise his annoyance and what he had to admit was chagrin. “I offer you an opportunity any other woman in your position would give her right hand for, and it sends you into whoops of laughter.”
    “I do beg your pardon,” she managed to gasp after a moment. “It was most unmannerly of me. But I happened to think of something and it just set me off.”
    “Enlighten me, pray.”
    She glanced across and saw that she had seriously offendedhim. Short of putting him right as to her position there was little she could do about it. “Something you said made me remember something from long ago, something I’d forgotten all about. I’m truly sorry. It was very discourteous.”
    Jasper frowned at her. Once again he had the unmistakable impression that all was not what it seemed with this Titian-haired, dewy-eyed beauty. “Well, do you have an answer for me?” he demanded.
    Clarissa realized that she did have an answer. Somewhere during this extraordinary hour or so she had come to half a conclusion, and it was by no means one she’d expected to reach. “I would ask for a little time to consider, my lord.” She rose from her chair. “Will you grant me that?”
    “If I must.” He rose with her. “I will return at noon tomorrow . . . oh, no, that will be too early for you, of course. You’ll be unlikely to seek your bed before dawn.”
    “No . . . no, that will be a fine time. I do not anticipate a busy night,” she said with a smile, amazed at herself. “I’m expecting no regular clients tonight.”
It was true,
she told herself firmly.
    “Then at noon tomorrow.” He bowed as she moved to the door. “I bid you farewell, Mistress Clarissa.”
    “And I you, my lord.” She curtsied and slipped from the room.
    Nan