The Proud Viscount by Laura Matthews Read Free Book Online Page A

think you will?”
    “No, dear, I don’t. Can you imagine me miserable?”
    “No, but I can picture you happily married. I just don’t know that Lord Rossmere is the man for you. He seems rather stiff and uncompromising.”
    “Hmmm. Perhaps. It’s hard to tell. You should see him on Ascot."
    “He brought the horse?” Nancy asked in disbelief.
    “It doesn’t seem to have occurred to him that it would disturb anyone."
    “Men live in the most blinkered world, don’t they? John thinks nothing of disappearing for days on end without telling me where he’s going, and he’s offended if I ask him where he’s been on his return. How very uninterested they must think women are in what goes on about them in the world.”
    This was the first time Nancy had confided any such behavior to her sister. Jane didn’t want to frighten off any further confidences by making too much of it. She was distressed to hear such a tale, but she remained calm. “That is indeed too bad of him. But let me tell you what happened in the village yesterday.” Jane proceeded to tell her about Mrs. Fulton, taking Rossmere to task for leaving the incident unresolved.
    Her sister frowned. “A redheaded woman? Quite slender and beautiful? Yes, I’ve seen her there. She doesn’t seem like someone who would live secluded in Lockley, does she?”
    “Certainly not! And the worst of it was that I’m quite sure Rossmere has had some connection with her. She spoke so familiarly to him. Actually,” she admitted, her eyes twinkling, “his discomfort was just the least bit amusing, because he’s so stuffy sometimes.”
    “You mean you think she was his mistress?” Nancy asked, her eyes wide with astonishment.
    “I wouldn’t be surprised. He was quite the metropolitan gentleman, I’m told, before his father brought on their ruin.”
    “He’s a good-looking man, in a rugged sort of way. I remember once when he visited Richard, and I was perhaps fifteen. I had quite a tendre for him. Naturally he didn’t notice me at all. To him I was a child.”
    “He has a way of treating women like children, I think. There’s a polite distance, a tolerance for the less advantaged, about the way he speaks with me. And though he’s very respectful to Aunt Mabel, he treats her much the same way.”
    “Hmm. Men must think women have a lesser intelligence when really it is only the disparity in education. Sometimes John’s attitude forces me to expedients that I deplore. I would far rather deal honestly with him than try to maneuver him into doing what I want.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t follow you,” said Jane, fearing very much that she did.
    “I shall give you an instance. John didn’t really wish to come for this visit. I was fearful that he would cancel it at the last moment, but I knew how much he likes to earn Papa’s good esteem. So I sent off to Guildford for a book on antiquities I’d read of that I thought Papa would particularly enjoy. When it arrived, very fortuitously, yesterday afternoon, I told John that the book he’d suggested getting for Papa had come in time for our visit.”
    “Surely he knew he’d never said any such thing.”
    “Not really. When I ran across the original reference to the book, I read it aloud to him. In situations of that sort it’s never clear who said that it was something Papa would like. And who is going to remember whether we actually determined to purchase it for him?”
    “Good heavens! It sounds a very complicated way to deal with a husband.”
    Nancy shrugged and studied the gold wedding band on her finger. “It wouldn’t be my preferred method, Jane, I assure you. But my opinions don’t seem to hold much weight with him in the ordinary course of things, and I am driven to this subterfuge.”
    “Well, you have only been married a short time,” her sister offered by way of reassurance. “Once he learns what a fine, practical intelligence you possess, I daresay he will make a point of consulting