A Love by Design by Elizabeth Everett

Author:Elizabeth Everett [Everett, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

“THE FECK THIS is made by elves on a mountainside. You can buy this in Limehouse for a tuppence.” Arthur Kneland crowed with delight as he pulled the toy from its elaborate wrapping. Grantham had made his way to Beacon House after his unsatisfactory encounter with Margaret.

“The box you brought it in is worth more than this toy,” Kneland said.

“Fine,” said Grantham glumly. “Give Baby Georgie—”

“Her name is Mirren.”

“—the box. She can use it to hide in when she learns she’s half-Scottish.”

Grantham selected a biscuit from the tray in front of him then set it down, his appetite having fled. He’d climbed through a window this time to avoid the footmen Kneland had set to watch him and nearly scared the wits from a parlor maid. In retaliation, Arthur had asked a footman to bring him the last of Mrs. Sweet’s biscuits rather than Cook’s shortbread.

Grantham rubbed his face and covered a yawn with his hand. After Margaret had left last night, he’d spent the hours until dawn castigating himself for having ruined the chance of a lifetime. Missing a night’s sleep was a far sight easier in his boyhood than in his advancing years.

“What ails you?”

Grantham stared at the other man in surprise. “What?”

“What ails you, man?” Kneland asked again. “You look like you haven’t slept in days, your jokes aren’t even up to your worst standards, and you have this . . .”

He waved his hand around and frowned.

Annoyed, Grantham mirrored the gesture. “This what? Godlike physique? Abnormal beauty for a mortal?”

“No,” Kneland spat. “You have this air about you as though you’ve lost your best friend.”

Twenty years a protection officer for figures as varied as a corrupt Italian prince and the head of the Greek Army had left Kneland with a rudimentary ability to read another man’s face.

Which disconcerted him more? That his problems with Margaret had left such a mark on him or he had the sudden urge to confide in the other man? Both thoughts made him queasy.

“Simply a stomach upset,” Grantham said.

They were in the Beacon House library, where Kneland had been in the act of letter writing when Grantham arrived.

Grantham enjoyed the library. A large room, all four walls fitted with dark oak bookshelves. Unlike the decorative libraries found in most of society’s town houses, the books in here had been read and reread. Some of the spines were so creased, the titles were illegible. Thick blue brocade curtains kept the light from bleaching the cloth covers, and a huge mahogany desk sat next to a cozy arrangement of wide-seated Georgian chairs and settees. The fireplace wasn’t lit yet and the lovely landscape by Joshua Reynolds of Richmond brightened the room. Bowls of dried lavender and rose petals scented the air and someone had left a shawl hanging over the back of a chair.

It reminded him of the library at Grange Abbey, where he and Violet had come up with their more outrageous schemes. Since Margaret was present only during the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.