The Rejected Suitor by Teresa McCarthy Read Free Book Online

sh-should teach that dog of yours some manners."
    "Nigel
would never hurt you."
    She said
nothing as he stared at her, his lips parting as if he wanted to say something
more. A hollow silence swept through the hall like the echo of a cold arctic
wind.
    "Jane
is expecting me in the drawing room," she finally blurted out, and without
waiting for his reply, grabbed hold of her skirt and turned blindly down the
hall, walking with as much dignity as she could gather.
    Why did
he have to come back into her life? She was a silly twit. Every fiber of her
being had wanted to cling to him, and it had taken every bit of resolve to pull
away. He was dangerous. Dangerous to her heart and to her future. What had
happened to the independent, confident woman she had become?
    For the
first time since her brothers returned home, she wished they were there beside
her, spouting their little speeches and watching her every move. But most of
all she wished they were protecting her from the world and all the disagreeable
baggage that went along with it, including a certain earl that could do more
damage to her heart in five minutes than an entire army of suitors could do to
her in one day.
     
    Jared
purposely missed Emily's arrival the previous evening at Hemmingly, but he was
not ready for the bitterness that radiated from those violet eyes when he
literally ran into her this morning. She was no longer the slim, dark-haired
girl he remembered. She had grown into an independent beauty who challenged his
resolve to stay away. Dash Roderick and his plans! If the duke had not rescued
him from a French prison, Jared would not be put in this position in the first
place.
    Honor,
of course, demanded that Jared do as his friend asked and watch over Emily
until her brothers found a suitable husband for her.
    Yet as
Jared strode back toward the library, he realized he could make a list a mile
long of the very reasons he should leave Hemmingly . . . and Lady Emily.
Reasons that would set the duke and his brothers onto him like hounds to a fox.
    Naturally,
Jared would never run from them if he had his mind set on their sister, but
Lady Emily was no longer part of his plans.
    His
thoughts turned to his daughter and his reunion with her as he stalked past the
maid brushing up the shattered vase in the hallway. By chance, he dropped his
gaze to a small black book resting at the foot of the Greek statue. It looked
oddly familiar.
    "Wordsworth,"
he said, picking up the book and opening to the first page. To the woman
closest to my heart. He cringed.
    The
written words had come back to haunt him like a ghost from the past. So the
little spitfire had kept the book he had slipped to her in Hyde Park the last afternoon
they had been together. Did she still love him? No, impossible. What the devil
was he thinking? Their love had been but a fleeting emotion of youth.
    Slapping
the book closed, he strode into the library and slammed the door. Whether she
carried the book in her heart or in her hands, it mattered not. He had no right
to her now. No right at all.
    Hours
later Jared raised his cool gaze over a cup of tea and greeted his aunt as she
joined him for an impromptu nuncheon, a spread consisting of hot croissants,
rolls, ham, cheese, grapes, and biscuits. Breakfast had been missed by all for
one reason or another, and Agatha had asked Cook to set a small meal for her
and her nephew. It seemed Jane and Lady Emily were preoccupied with an
invitation at the local vicarage.
    Jared
thought the trip to the village an innocent excursion, but in the event the
legitimate outing turned into something havey-cavey, he secretly conveyed to
James, one of Agatha's new footmen and Jared's former aide, that should any
eager gentlemen present themselves to the ladies for want of closer
acquaintance, James was to hasten the ladies back to Hemmingly as soon as
possible.
    Using
James as an extra pair of eyes had made guarding Lady Emily much easier, Jared
decided. He put down the tea