The Pursuit by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

mentioned it to, it merely made him look foolish.
    Like the parlor they’d just left, as well as the entry hall, Lachlan MacGregor’s office was paneled in thick wood, with no trace of the outer stone walls visible to remind that they were in a castle. The single window in the room had been enlarged from the original, and framed in wood to boot. It was a comfortable room, the furniture thickly-padded, the dark tones of brown, green, and black well suited for a man’s domain. Yet Lincoln was anything but comfortable.
    For someone who had only recently decided it was time to marry and only just decided on whom to marry, he hadn’t exactly given much thought to what to say to a prospective bride’s father. But having put his foot in his mouth already, he was certainly off to a great start. Bloody hell. He wasn’t used to being at such a loss on how to proceed.
    The older man helped immensely, though, as soon as they were seated, by simply asking, “So when did ye meet our Meli?”
    “Yesterday.”
    Lachlan’s new look of surprise turned rather quickly into a round of laughter. When he wound down, he said, “Ye’ll have tae be forgiving me. ’Tis no’ often I meet a mon who knows what he wants quite that quickly.”
    “I trust my instincts, sir,” Lincoln said in his defense. “But perhaps I should explain. I had decided to take a wife, was going to actively search for one this social season in London. So the thought of marriage was not really on the spur of the moment, as it has been much on my mind recently. And having met Melissa, I concluded that I really don’t need to look any further—that is, if she’ll have me. However, I didn’t mean to imply that I want to marry her immediately. Actually, that would suit me well enough, but I realize that a period of courtship is in order first. I merely intended to state my goals today and to assure her that my suit is honorable.”
    “Well said, lad. I wasna that sure aboot m’own wife when I met her. Growling at each other was all we managed tae do for a time, though love snuck up on the both o’ us, I’m thinking. And perhaps ye’ll be telling me what sort o’ life ye’d be offering our lass?”
    “Certainly. I have inherited two fairly large estates, one in England from my uncle on my mother’s side and one here in Scotland that comprises quite a few properties both up north and in the Lowlands.”
    Lachlan raised a brow. “Scotland, eh? And who would that be from?”
    “My father was Donald Ross.”
    Lachlan sat forward. “I’ll be damned! I knew him. I was sorry tae hear about his accident. Yer mother still lives nearby, doesna she?”
    “Yes, though I don’t. I was sent to live with myuncle after my father died. I’ve made my home in England with his family.”
    “And why is it ye’ve forsaken your da’s name?” Lachlan asked.
    “That I would never do. My full name is Lincoln Ross Burnett. There was an English title involved, however, and no other close male heirs on that side of the family, which is why my uncle petitioned to have his surname given to me. I am the seventeenth viscount Cambury.”
    “I’ll own tae a bit o’ surprise. Ye dinna look or sound like a Scotsman, ye ken.”
    Lincoln smiled wryly. “I’ve spent the last nineteen years in England, which included most of my schooling. My teachers were somewhat determined to pound the Scottish burr out of me.”
    “Amazing, but I suppose if ye live among the English long enough, ’tis easy enough tae become one o’ them.”
    “You don’t bear ill will toward the English in general, do you?” Lincoln asked hesitantly.
    Lachlan laughed in good humor, explaining, “M’wife is English, lad. My aunt was English. I’ve good friends that live there as well. Nae, the only thing I dinna like about England is ’tis so bloody crowded, a mon o’ m’size tends tae draw far too much notice. M’height has always made me somewhat uncomfortable, ye ken.”
    Lincoln nodded in