The Dark Earl by Virginia Henley Read Free Book Online

have outgrown. Rose visits her family every Saturday, and we make sure she doesn’t go empty-handed.”
    Over toast and eggs, Harry and Rachel exchanged ideas for a book.
    “I’d like to write about real people, but there’s always the risk that they’d recognize themselves, and that could land me in hot water,” Rachel said.
    “Then why don’t you write about people from an earlier generation? Your mother, Georgina, and my grandmother, once told me the most romantic tale I’d ever heard. I suppose she learned the story from Charles James Fox, who was a friend of hers.”
    “Ah yes, didn’t Fox eventually marry his mistress, Elizabeth Armistead? And wasn’t she Prinny’s mistress before Fox fell in love with her?”
    “So gossip has it, but I’m speaking of Fox’s grandmother Sarah Cadogan. She was married to his grandfather, the future Duke of Richmond, when she was only thirteen and he was eighteen. The marriage was arranged to settle a gambling debt between their fathers. The pair disliked each other on sight. After the wedding Sarah was packed off to school and Charles was rushed off to the Continent on an extended grand tour.”
    “Imagine being forced to marry in order to settle a gambling debt!” Rachel declared with indignation. “The Fox family was always cursed by an addiction to gaming.”
    Harry continued. “Three years later, on his first night back, to avoid a meeting with his loathed wife, he went to the opera. In a box opposite was a most beautiful lady—he fell in love with her at first sight. Imagine his surprise when he learned that she was his wife! He decided to woo her properly, and he was successful. Their marriage was so happy that they kissed and cuddled in public. They ended up with twelve children.”
    “Oh, that is such a romantic story. I shall incorporate it in my next book. Thank you for providing me with such a splendid plot, Harry.”
     
     
    When Lady Harriet stepped up into D’Arcy Lambton’s phaeton, she was wearing primrose yellow with a matching parasol. She had contemplated pairing her outfit with a vivid black and white one, but decided it would draw too many eyes. Since she wanted the parasol only to hide behind when D’Arcy kissed her, the yellow was preferable.
    “You always look lovely, Harry, but today you seem to be bathed in sunshine.”
    “That’s exactly how I feel on this glorious day.”
    Hyde Park was busy. Not only was half of fashionable London riding in carriages, but throngs of ladies and gentlemen were strolling along the paths, hoping to see and be seen.
    The Earl of Durham drove once around the park, greeting friends and acquaintances and allowing Lady Harriet to do the same. She caught a glimpse of her brother James riding with Lady Emily, before D’Arcy took a left turn and drove across the Serpentine Bridge into Kensington Gardens. He found a secluded path where the sunshine filtered through the leafy shade trees, and reined in his horses.
    D’Arcy took Harry’s hand and squeezed it. “At last, I have you all to myself.”
    She glanced right and left mischievously. “Are you sure no one is hiding in the bushes?”
    He slowly stripped off her glove and took her bare fingers to his lips.
    “We certainly want no witnesses to such wanton behavior,” Harry teased.
    “I’ll give you wanton behavior.” D’Arcy’s arms swept about her and drew her close.
    Harry shielded them with her parasol and then reached out to brush her fingertips along his blond mustache. She held her breath when he captured her lips in a stolen kiss.
    When he withdrew his mouth, she gazed at him for a full minute. Her parasol cast him in a golden glow and she thought him almost beautiful, in an angelic sort of way. “You have inherited your grandfather’s handsome looks. My grandmother always extolled Earl Grey’s attractiveness. I warrant she was half in love with him.”
    “And could you follow in the incomparable Georgina’s footsteps?”
    “I believe