The Inheritance by Joan Johnston Read Free Book Online Page B

do?”
    “What can I do? Find someplace to live and remove myself from Severn.”
    “Without a fight?” Priss asked. “That doesn’t sound like the Daisy Windermere I’ve come to know over the past year. That Daisy would be making plans to change the duke’s mind.”
    “She would?”
    “She would.”
    Daisy sat but fidgeted in her seat. “As a matter of fact, I did try arguing with His Grace this morning.”
    “And?”
    “He kissed me.”
    “Why, Daisy, how wonderful! If the duke is attracted to you, that would solve everything. You can simply convince him to propose and—”
    “What!” Daisy leapt from her seat again. “What are you suggesting, Priss?”
    Priss sat forward in her chair. “It’s perfect, don’t you see? If you marry the duke he won’t want to go back to America. And if he stays in England, of course he won’t want to sell Severn Manor.
Voilá!
All your problems are solved.”
    “Except I’d be married to that barbarian!” Daisy said. “Besides, I have it straight from the horse’s mouth, he doesn’t ever intend to marry.”
    “No man ever intends to marry,” Priss said with a shrewd smile. “It’s up to us to convince them that they can’t live without us.”
    Daisy chewed worriedly on her lower lip. “I don’t know. It sounds like a buffleheaded scheme to me. Besides, I wouldn’t know the first thing about attracting a man. I married Tony out of the schoolroom, and the match was arranged by my parents.”
    “It’s easy,” Priss assured her. “You’ve got a head start if he’s already kissed you.”
    “His Grace did that to intimidate me,” Daisy said with asperity.
    “Did he enjoy it?”
    “How should I know?”
    Priss made a moue. “Come, Daisy, you aren’t that naive.”
    “All right,” she said. “He enjoyed it. Or, at least, he was aroused by it.”
    “The two—arousal and enjoyment—are connected for men, I believe,” Priss confided. “Now, we need a plan of attack.”
    “I haven’t agreed to this,” Daisy protested.
    “Have you a better idea?”
    Daisy stopped in her tracks and stared at her friend. “The benefit to me is obvious if I marry His Grace. What is he going to get out of it? I tell you it won’t work.”
    “Daisy, Daisy,” Priss admonished. “Has it been so long since Tony died? What is His Grace going to get out of it, indeed! A charming and beautiful hostess for his table, an able helpmate dealing with his tenants, and a lovely companion in his bed.”
    Daisy flushed.
    “Have I spoken too bluntly? But I thought we could say anything to each other,” Priss said. “It also seems to me that this is a time for plain speaking.”
    “Yes, it is,” Daisy said, dropping into the chair across from Priss once more. “I came here today hoping that if I spoke with you I could come up with some course of action that would save me from the disaster that looms, both for myself and the tenants and servants of Severn. I hadn’t thought to make so great a sacrifice.…”
    “You see marriage to the duke as a sacrifice?” Priss asked incredulously. “Is he unhandsome, Daisy? Or cruel, do you think? Or profligate, perhaps?”
    Daisy chewed on her lower lip. “He’s quite good-looking, in a savage sort of way,” she confessed. “Idon’t think he’s particularly kind, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call him cruel, either. I have no idea whether he’s a wastrel or a spendthrift. To be honest, I don’t know very much about him.”
    Except he makes your toes curl when he kisses you
.
    Daisy cleared her throat before continuing. “I would gladly sacrifice myself in a marriage to that barbarian if I thought it would make a difference to those who depend on Severn for their livelihoods. Perhaps as his wife I could convince him to stay here.” Daisy flushed as she realized what inducements she might use to bind the duke to her and to Severn. “Only I have no earthly idea how to get him to propose.”
    Priss snorted. It was a totally