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

former unhappy with their marriages, the latter free to do as they chose—with discretion, of course. And he rarely left one of these large London affairs without a tryst arranged for later in the week, or even that night.
    At this ball, however, nothing seemed to interest him. He did his requisite dancing to keep the hostess happy, and had to take pains not to yawn before he relinquished each partner to the next gentleman on her dance card. He tried a few hands of whist, but again, he couldn’t manage to concentrate on the game, even when the stakes rose perilously high.
    Two of his former lovers had tried to interest him in another rendezvous, but where he would usually put them off with promises of another time, he had simply told them he was otherwise involved at the moment. Yet he wasn’t. The girl he had dropped off at hishome couldn’t be considered an involvement—yet. Besides, a mistress was never considered an involvement, not a true involvement. A mistress was simply a very nice—and expensive—convenience.
    And he still couldn’t believe he had one now. The one and only other time he had agreed to pay the support of a woman in return for her favors had been an utter disaster.
    Marjorie Eddings had been her name. She was a young widow of good breeding who couldn’t quite make ends meet to continue living in the style she had been born to. He had paid her debts—actually, most of them had been her departed husband’s debts—refurbished the house she had inherited, gave in to her desire for costly little trinkets.
    He’d even agreed to be her escort to the many gatherings she was still invited to, when he’d had no desire to fill that roll. All aboveboard, naturally, and highly respectable, even to dropping her off at her residence, as was proper, and having to wait hours before it was safe to sneak in for the favors he was due—which, half the time, she claimed she was too tired to supply. And during the entire six months of their relationship, knowing full well that he had no interest in marriage, she had plotted to get him to the altar.
    Even if he had liked her well enough to make their relationship permanent, which he hadn’t, he didn’t like being tricked and lied to, which she had done. She claimed she was with child when she wasn’t. Then she had let theirreal association leak through to the gossip mills, while claiming that he’d promised to marry her. That had been the last straw. And she’d made that claim directly to his father.
    Of course, Marjorie had underestimated the Malory family. It was impossible to insinuate herself into their ranks with lies. Derek’s father knew him well enough to know he’d never make such a promise. As it happened, Jason Malory would have been delighted if it were otherwise.
    But Jason knew his only son wasn’t ready to settle down any time soon, and thankfully, he’d never tried to force Derek to change his mind. Derek knew the day would come when the pressure would be turned on. Responsibility and all that, carrying on the line, and in Derek’s case, the title he would eventually inherit, were large considerations.
    As for Marjorie, well, Jason didn’t like liars either. He was a man of rigid principles. And having been head of his family for so long—since he was sixteen, actually—and having had to call his younger brothers on the carpet so often for their misdeeds through the years, as well as Derek and Reggie, whom he’d had the raising of, he had that sort of thing down to an art.
    A hot temper should also be mentioned. It was only the most innocent who could stand up to one of Jason’s furious sermons. The guilty would quickly crumble in shame, and in the case of women, tears, since it was very unpleasant getting the roof dropped on yourhead, as Uncle Tony was fond of putting it.
    Marjorie had left in tears and disgrace and had troubled Derek no more. She’d gulled a great deal of money out of him during their short relationship, so he