ANNE ASHLEY – A Noble Man (страница 1)
Sophia must have a sound reason for treating him with indifference.
Ben couldn’t prevent a wry smile from curling his lips as he considered his present unenviable situation. He was a Sharnbrook, with proud aristocratic blood flowing through his veins, and he’d be damned if he would tolerate being ignored by the young woman who was destined to become his duchess!
The instant she glimpsed that tall figure looming alongside, Sophia could feel the tension in her steadily mounting. How could she now begin to treat this man like a servant when she had never done so before? Impossible to tell him to remember his station in life when she herself was finding it increasingly difficult not to think of him as an equal!
A Noble Man
Anne Ashley
ANNE ASHLEY
was born and educated in Leicester. She lived for a time in Scotland, but now resides in the West Country with two cats, her two sons and a husband who has a wonderful and very necessary sense of humor. When not pounding away at the keys on her computer she likes to relax in her garden, which she has opened to the public on more than one occasion in aid of the village church funds.
THE STEEPWOOD SCANDAL:
Lord Ravensden’s Marriage, by Anne Herries
An Innocent Miss, by Elizabeth Bailey
The Reluctant Bride, by Meg Alexander
A Companion of Quality, by Nicola Cornick
A Most Improper Proposal, by Gail Whitiker
A Noble Man, by Anne Ashley
An Unreasonable Match, by Sylvia Andrew
An Unconventional Duenna, by Paula Marshall
Counterfeit Earl, by Anne Herries
The Captain’s Return, by Elizabeth Bailey
The Guardian’s Dilemma, by Gail Whitiker
Lord Exmouth’s Intentions, by Anne Ashley
Mr. Rushford’s Honour, by Meg Alexander
An Unlikely Suitor, by Nicola Cornick
An Inescapable Match, by Sylvia Andrew
The Missing Marchioness, by Paula Marshall
Contents
Chapter One
March 1812
The Earl of Yardley glared in frustrated silence at his daughter’s lustrous blue-black curls. Anyone might be forgiven for supposing that Lady Sophia’s bent head and clasped hands expressed contrition, but he was not fooled for a moment. Oh, most definitely not! Unless he much mistook the matter, his daughter’s striking green eyes were twinkling while she was doing her level best to conceal that wickedly provocative smile of hers.
“So, you flatly refuse even to consider this latest proposal,” he reiterated, still somehow managing to keep a tight rein on his temper. Any other young woman would have been overjoyed to receive four offers for her hand since her arrival in town a mere two weeks ago. His Sophia, however, was a law unto herself!
Swinging round on his heels, he went across the room to stare sightlessly out of the library window. “At least may I be permitted to know why you have taken Lord Vale in such dislike?”
“Oh, I do not dislike him, Papa,” his most undutiful offspring hurriedly assured him. “The truth of the matter is I haven’t known him long enough to form an opinion.”
“In that case, what can be your objection other than a need to know him a little better?”
Sophia, with a suspicion of wicked amusement still lingering in her eyes after learning of this latest offer for her hand, raised her head at last. “Well, apart from the fact that he will never see forty again, he is the only gentleman of my acquaintance who could sit in a carriage and stare out of both windows at one and the same time.”
A noise sounding suspiciously like a suppressed chuckle reached her ears, and she looked across the room at her father’s surprisingly straight back and silver-grey hair. For a gentleman who had celebrated his seventy-first birthday just a few short weeks before, he was still in fine physical condition. “Papa, you don’t seriously expect me to consider this offer from Lord Vale, do you?”
He didn’t, but he had no intention of admitting to it. “You seem to forget that I was several years older than Lord Vale is now when I proposed to your mother.”
“True, but you were such a distinguished-looking gentleman…still are, for that matter. Besides which, you haven’t a turn in your left eye.”
“Don’t try those wheedling ways with me, my girl!” his lordship snapped, striving not to let his favourite child twist him round her little finger, which, sadly, she so often did. “Very well, I can understand your reluctance in not wishing to consider Vale’s offer, but what about the one from young Farley?”
Sophia’s finely arched brows rose. “Are you by any chance acquainted with the Honourable Cedric Farley? I don’t think you possibly can be, sir…He’s a moonling!”
Once again his lordship was forced to exercise the firmest control in order to conceal his amusement. His daughter was nothing if not brutally candid. “And what were your objections to both Pelham and Neubert, may I ask?”
“A pair of tailor’s dummies!”
“God in heaven!” His lordship clapped a hand over his eyes. “Where in the world do you learn such expressions?”
The exaggerated raising of one brow was a clear indication that she considered the question totally unnecessary. “From the male members of this household, who else?”
Not best pleased at suddenly finding himself at a disadvantage, the Earl went striding back across to his desk. “I’ll have a word with that brother of yours when next I see him. He must learn to put a guard on his tongue when you’re about.”
“I’m reliably informed that Marcus should be arriving any time now, and intends to stay in town for a week or two. I must say though, Papa, I think you’re being grossly unfair to take him to task,” she pointed out in her absent half-brother’s defence, “especially as you yourself use the most appalling cant when in my presence.”
He was about to refute this, but then thought better of it and, instead, scooped up and waved the letters he had received during the past two weeks from those four hapless suitors. “Don’t think that you can lead me away from the matter in hand, you cunning little minx!”
The only effect this mild rebuke had on his headstrong daughter was to make her smile more brilliantly, and his lordship’s annoyance finally got the better of him. “You appear to take a light view of marriage, Sophia. Well, permit me to point out that it is a very serious business. An ill-judged choice of partner only brings misery to all concerned, and I do not intend that you should make a mistake in your choice of husband if it is within my power to prevent it. So, I have come to a decision.”
He paused for a moment to ensure that he had her full attention. “I have made no secret of the fact that I intend to settle a large sum of money upon you when you marry. There is, however, a condition attached to my generosity. If you choose to marry without my consent, then your future husband had better possess sufficient funds to support you, because you will receive not a penny from me.” Again he paused while he tossed the letters from the rejected suitors back on the desk. “Now, do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly, sir. What you are trying to tell me is that I may marry whomsoever I choose providing he has wealth and belongs to our social class.” An ominous glint replaced the teasing sparkle in her eyes, as Sophia rose gracefully from the chair nearest to the hearth. “It would appear, then, that I am destined to lead a life of hardship, for I would far rather be poor and married to a man of real worth than riveted to some empty-headed fribble whose only concern is how best to tie his cravat.”
His lordship could be as determined as his headstrong daughter when he chose, and refused to give way on this issue. “I would suggest that you go up to your room and think very seriously about this matter,” he remarked, unbending.
Obediently she moved across to the door, but turned back to add, eyes still glinting, though whether in anger or devilment or a mixture of both, his lordship wasn’t perfectly sure. “Of course I shall do as you wish, but not for any great length of time. Mama would not be best pleased if I were late in putting in an appearance at my very own ball.” And with that quite deliberately provocative remark she left the room, and her father wondering what he had ever done that the gods should have seen fit to curse him with such a headstrong chit of a girl.
The Countess, emerging from the front parlour in time to see her daughter mount the stairs, was not slow to notice the stubborn set of those lovely features, and knew even before she entered the library to find her husband glowering out of the window that the interview had not progressed quite as he might have wished.
“I assume Vale’s offer received the same contemptuous refusal as the other three,” she remarked, seating herself in the chair recently vacated by Sophia.