The Valentine Legacy by Catherine Coulter Read Free Book Online

head and snorted.
    â€œShe sounds just like you,” Jessie said, staring straight between Benjie’s ears. “Obnoxious and impatient. Did you import her from England?”
    â€œYou don’t care for my English accent?” he asked, drawling each word into the most supercilious British English he could manage.
    â€œYou sound like a pederast.”
    James’s hands jerked on Lilac’s reins and she sidestepped. “What did you say?”
    â€œYou heard what I said.”
    â€œHow the devil do you know that word? No lady would say that word, much less know of it.”
    She turned slowly to look at him, the moon behind her, framing that old hat and the tangles of red hair that hung on either side of her face. “I’m not stupid. I read a lot.”
    â€œThe question is, what do you read?”
    â€œEverything. In this case, I agree that pederast is very definitely a man’s word.”
    James smote his forehead with his palm. “I don’t believe this. It’s close to midnight. It’s Baltimore and thus it will rain on us any minute and you know about pederasts. Worse, you called me one.”
    â€œIt’s how you sound when you speak with that ridiculous accent. You do it to make yourself sound important, to sound different from all of us Colonists. To make us all feel inferior to you just because your cousin’s a bloody English earl. You want everybody to forget you’re half a Colonist yourself. You’re a fraud, James.” She wanted to whip Benjie into a gallop, but she knew she couldn’t.
    â€œA fraud, am I? What about you, brat? You with your men’s clothes, your hair like a witch’s straggling down your back. You look like one of those hooligans who throw rocks at windows over at Fells Point. No, maybe you’re not a fraud at all. Maybe your father’s wrong. You’re only a female because your body makes you aware of it once a month.” He ignored her snarl. “So tell me, what were you doing at my sister’s party tonight?”
    She was as silent as the dark clouds overhead.
    â€œWell? Don’t you have an answer? Is it something outrageous?”
    She twitched and he continued to push. “I’ll just bet Iknow why you were there. You were looking at all the men. Perhaps you were trying to find one close to your size so you could go to his house, break in, and steal some of his clothes. The good Lord knows your mother wouldn’t let you buy men’s clothes. That’s it, isn’t it, Jessie?”
    He’d gotten her. She’d sworn she wouldn’t let him get to her, but he had. He always did, when he set out to. She twisted around in her saddle and shrieked at him, “I wanted to see you, damn you to hell, James Wyndham!”
    She was trembling now, knowing she’d just opened herself to utter devastation. She felt raw and exposed. She waited for the blow. And waited some more.
    The blow didn’t come. Instead, James said, “This is very strange, brat. Why did you want to see me? Is it because Glenda is after my poor male self and you want to make sure I’m good enough for her? You want to make sure I won’t beat her if I marry her? You saw me staring at those breasts of hers that she displays at every opportunity and wanted to make certain I’d manage to restrain myself?”
    She could but stare at him. He hadn’t ground her into dust with mockery, but he’d hurt her more than even she could begin to imagine at the moment. He was a man; that was it. A man and thus he was as dull witted and as obtuse as her mother’s pug, Pretty Boy, whom Jessie called Halfwit whenever her mother wasn’t around.
    She continued to stare at him and James said, frowning at her, “Well? It’s Glenda, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes,” she said. “Yes, that’s it. I’m going home, James. You needn’t come any farther with me. Good