Say You Love Me by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t.”
    Derek frowned. “I’m not dragging you, dear boy, only pointing out your obligations. You didn’t have to agree to Diana’s request.”
    “I didn’t?” Jeremy replied. “When I have the worst bloody time telling a female no? Any female, for that matter. Just can’t stand to disappoint ’em. And I certainly wouldn’t have disappointed the one you just left behind.”
    “If all she wanted was to be left alone, Jeremy, then I’d hardly say I disappointed her.”
    “Left alone?”
    “You find that hard to believe?”
    “Women scheme and fight to get into your bed, cousin, not to leave it. I’ve seen it firsthand—”
    Derek cut in. “And sometimes women just don’t want to be bothered, for one reason or another, and that is the distinct impression I got from this girl. She looked exhausted. Could have been no more’n that, but as I already had other plans anyway…Besides, Jeremy, I didn’t fork up all that blunt just to bed the girl, so I am hardly impatient to do so. Didn’t want a mistress in the first place, butnow I’ve got one, I’ll bloody well see to her in my own good time, if it’s all the same to you.”
    “Indecent amount for something you didn’t want,” Percy remarked.
    Jeremy chuckled. “Wasn’t it though.”
    Derek slouched down in his seat, grumbling, “You know why I did it.”
    “’Course we do, old boy,” Percy replied. “And commend you for it, ’deed we do. Don’t have the blunt to be so noble m’self, but at least one of us did.”
    “Aye,” Jeremy agreed. “Thwarted Ashford and got a splendid bonus for doing so. A fine night’s work, if I do say so m’self.”
    All but blushing at the unexpected praise, Derek said, “Then perhaps you will both cease the ribbing about leaving the girl behind?”
    Jeremy grinned. “Must we?”
    A scowl from Derek had Jeremy glancing out the window beside him and whistling a merry ditty. Incorrigible scamp. Uncle James really was going to have his hands full trying to reign this young pup in to responsibilities when the time came. ’Course, Derek’s father had been lamenting about the same thing where he was concerned. But then, of the four Malory brothers, Derek had to be stuck with the head of the family, and being so, Jason Malory, Marquis of Haverston, was the most stern out of the lot of them, and the hardest to please.

7
    Derek usually enjoyed balls, though not ones with over three hundred people in attendance, as that night’s turned out to be. But he liked to dance, could usually find a friendly game of whist or billiards, and invariably there would be a fresh new face or two there to intrigue him.
    The intrigued part never lasted long, however, since most young ladies who decked themselves out so splendidly for these occasions, and flirted so coyly, were after only one thing: marriage. And the very minute their motive was established, Derek would bid them adieu, because marriage was the very last thing he was interested in.
    There were a few exceptions to that rule, but those didn’t come along very often. Even if a girl didn’t want to get married right away, she’d be dealing with pressure from her relatives to get the matter seen to. It was the rare young lady who could withstand that pressure and devote some time to just enjoying herself.
    Derek actually liked those independent-minded young ladies the most, and had gotten to know several fairly well. These were innocents still, so the relationships involved were not of a sexual nature. Far from it. Derek respected the rules of society and found it quite refreshing to associate with them on other terms, good conversation, shared interests, and to simply be able to relax his guard with them.
    Which wasn’t to say he wasn’t constantly on the lookout for his next bed partners. He just didn’t pick them from the crop of new innocents who descended on London each season. No, his sexual pursuits were culled generally from young wives and widows, the