Wed Him Before You Bed Him by Sabrina Jeffries Read Free Book Online

can’t swim at all.”
    She glanced at Papa, whose warning expression said she’d better curb her tongue or he’d make sure she regretted it. Wiping her clammy hands on her skirts, she returned her gaze to her plate.
    â€œHateful comment about what?” David asked in clear bewilderment.
    â€œNothing.” She didn’t dare look at him…or Papa. “I just realized I was recalling the wrong thing. It was a long time ago.”
    After a moment of strained silence, David said, “Giles, that was the second time you mentioned monkeys. Was that supposed to mean something?”
    Charlotte shot Giles a pleading glance.
    The young man seemed to note her distress, for he glanced from her to his brother, then said, “No. Not in the least.”
    Forcing herself to meet David’s gaze, she smiled weakly. “I somehow doubt I’d be able to match you in any athletic endeavor these days, Mr. Masters.”
    â€œBut if you ever need to buy a horse, consult my daughter,” Mama surprised her by saying. “Charlotte has quite agood eye for them, like her father. Rowland bought me the sweetest little mare—”
    â€œThey don’t want to hear about your mare, Agatha,” Papa cut in.
    Stiffening, she murmured, “No, dear, of course not.”
    Charlotte’s fingers tightened on the spoon. She remembered when Mama used to fight him, argue with him. But the years had worn her down, and Charlotte hated to see it.
    â€œWell, I can testify to Page’s excellent taste in horses,” Lord Kirkwood put in, relieving the tension. “Whenever I go to Tattersall’s, I take him along. Haven’t ever regretted a purchase that he approved.”
    Fortunately, that kept the conversation going until it was time for the gentlemen to head for Lord Kirkwood’s study while the ladies retired to the drawing room.
    But Charlotte couldn’t take one more minute of the tense conversations. The gentlemen probably wouldn’t stay away from the ladies for long, and she couldn’t bear any more of Papa’s trying to control her every word and deed.
    She told her mother she had a headache and was retiring to her room. Thankfully, Mama didn’t press the matter. But halfway to her room, Charlotte realized she’d forgotten her shawl in the dining room. She went back to retrieve it and was passing some open French doors when she glanced outside and got a jolt. There stood the windowless garden hut the boys had claimed for themselves when they were all children. She couldn’t believe it was still intact.
    For a moment she simply stared at it, remembering what a forbidden place it had seemed to her as a girl. She’d never even seen the inside, for the boys had kept it padlocked when not in use.
    A sudden mischievous impulse seized her. No one was around—this part of the house wasn’t close to the drawing room or the study. Why not take a look?
    Grabbing a candle, she ventured out and across the garden to the shed. No lock on the door. Probably it merely held hoes and such these days, but still…
    She swung the door open, startled to find that the plain wooden structure was already inhabited. David sat in his shirtsleeves at an old desk, sketching madly by the light of a lantern.
    As his surprised gaze shot to her, she blushed crimson, mortified that he might think she’d followed him there on purpose. “I-I beg your pardon.” She started to close the door. “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”
    He leaped from his chair. “Wait!”
    She froze with the door half-open.
    â€œWhy don’t you stay?” He hurried near enough that she could see his loosened cravat. “I could use the company.”
    â€œI’d have thought you came here to avoid company.”
    â€œSome company, yes.” His expression was genuinely friendly, sending warmth spilling through her veins, despite her determination to