Stormy Persuasion by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

Roslynn ended that with a smile.
    Jack still leaned forward around Roslynn and said to Judith, “You didn’t tell her?”
    “Tell me what?” Roslynn asked.
    Jacqueline chuckled. “We’re not getting married this year. Next year maybe, or even
     the year after that. We’re in no hurry to. Really we aren’t.”
    “It’s true, Mother,” Judith confirmed. “The fun is going to be in the trying, not
     the doing.”
    As the girls moved off to circulate about the room, Roslynn remarked to Georgina,
     “That was no doubt word for word from your daughter.”
    “I quite agree,” Georgina said.
    “But they can’t be that naive. When it happens, it’s going to happen, and there’s
     not a bloody thing they can do to stop it.”
    “I know, but still, I wish Jack had let her father know that was her intention. James
     has been masking it very well, but he’s been a powder keg since the beginning of this
     year, with the thought of Jack getting married by the end of it. He’s not going to
     deal gracefully with her falling in love, you know.”
    “You think Tony is? He used to only visit Knighton’s Hall a few times a week, but
     it’s been daily for several months now. He wants to stop time from advancing but he
     can’t, and he’s extremely frustrated because of it. Truth be told, that’s why I didn’t
     want to delay Judith’s Season here and hoped she would favor young Cullen before it
     even began. The sooner Judy gets married, the sooner my family can get back to normal—until
     Jaime comes of age.”
    Georgina laughed. “You really should have owned up to that sooner, m’dear.”
    “Prob’ly.” Roslynn sighed. “I swear, our husbands were never meant to have daughters.
     Sons and more sons would’ve been fine, but daughters! It was just asking for trouble.
     I fear for their suitors, I really do. Our men don’t have the temperament to just
     stand back and let nature take its course.”

Chapter Seven

    J udith tried to mask her smile when she and Jack moved away from their mothers. She
     was starting to feel some of the excitement that had infected Jacqueline. And her
     cousin was so proud of having been right, she might as well have been crowing with
     it. To keep her from bragging with an “I told you so,” which would have annoyed Judith
     because she’d heard it so often, she put a finger to Jacqueline’s mouth when she started
     to open it.
    “Don’t say it. Let me. You were right—as usual. My mother is not angry at me for the
     way this turned out, so the burden is gone and now I can fully enjoy the trip.”
    “I wasn’t going to mention that ,” Jacqueline replied, and turned Judith around to face the parlor’s double doors.
     “Who’s that and why does he look familiar?”
    Judith saw the man then, a stranger, elegantly clad if not quite in an English style.
     He wasn’t wearing a greatcoat, but a cloak edged with black ermine. The frock coat
     underneath it was a bit too full skirted to be fashionable. And was that a sword poking
     out from under the cloak? He appeared to be a foreigner, but Jacqueline was right,
     he did look familiar. And they weren’t the only ones who thought so.
    Their uncle Edward put his finger on it, taking a step forward to say in his typically
     jovial tone, “Another long-lost relative? Come in!”
    Everyone more or less turned in unison to see whom Edward was talking about. The young
     man at the door seemed embarrassed now that he was the center of attention, and perhaps
     a little overwhelmed, with so many people in the room. Even though Judith doubted
     that the tall, handsome young man was related to them, she didn’t think her uncle
     had been joking. But then, when did her uncle ever joke about family?
    And the stranger didn’t dispute her uncle’s conclusion. In fact he appeared rather
     amazed when he replied, “How did you know?”
    Judith’s cousin Regina stepped forward, grinning. Jack’s brother, Jeremy, stepped
     forward,