Antonia's Bargain Read Online Free Page A

wife? He should be in the diplomatic corps with Gervase
    negotiating with the French.
    “Pah! She was as mad as a hatter.” The viscount offered Gideon a brandy he was
    glad to accept. “Anyway, to get back to my original point. It is time for you to consider
    marrying again.”
    Gideon prayed for patience. “After enduring the first wife you chose for me, I am a
    little reluctant to allow you to interfere and choose my second.”
    “I don’t care whom you choose, dear boy, as long as she is presentable. I just want
    you to marry. The succession must be secured.” There was an almost fanatical glint in
    his father’s eye as he thumped his desk, making the brandy slosh out of his glass.
    “Gervase is married. Mary is married,” Gideon said. “You will have more
    grandchildren than you need soon.”
    “Gervase chose to marry Eden Carstairs. She might well be barren. Your sister
    Mary’s children will bear another man’s name and inherit another man’s title. You are
    my eldest son. Our lineage has remained intact, handed down from father to son for
    over two hundred years. I don’t intend to break it.”
    It always came back to that. Gideon’s grandfather was the Marquess of Valdemare,
    an ancient title Gideon stood to inherit after the death of his father, the current heir.
    Harcourt Hall was over four hundred years old and looked more like a medieval
    fortress than a stately home. Gideon loved every brick and stone of it. The estate was as
    much a part of him as his twin and just as embedded in his soul.
    If Caroline hadn’t chosen to end her life so dramatically, Gideon would’ve been
    happy to raise her child as his own. He’d told her as much but that had infuriated her
    even more. She hadn’t wanted his sympathy and understanding. He stared morosely
    into his brandy glass. The weight of his heritage and the need for an heir was a burden
    and a curse when his sexual proclivities were far wider than was considered acceptable.
    He glanced up to find his father watching him. The viscount was no fool. Rumors of
    Gideon’s sexual tastes must have filtered through to him.
    20
    Antonia’s Bargain
    “What if I choose to remain single?”
    “And allow someone else to inherit what should belong to your children?”
    Gideon shrugged. “By the time it happens I’ll be dead and so will you. Would I
    really care if Mary’s children, the Babbington–Thomases, became masters of Harcourt
    Hall?”
    The viscount got to his feet, his gray eyes full of disdain. “I dislike your flippant
    attitude, Gideon. And yes, I believe you would care far more deeply than you are
    letting on.” He leaned across the desk and swiped the brandy glass from Gideon’s
    hand. “I will bid you good day, sir.”
    Realizing it was his cue to leave, Gideon pushed back his chair.
    “I will think on what you have said.”
    His father didn’t bother to reply as he started to open his mail. Gideon let himself
    out of the house and headed for his club. At least there he might shake off the feeling
    that he was five again. It began to rain as he skirted the corner of the square and looked
    for a hackney cab. He wished Gervase was here, but his brother was on the other side of
    the English Channel engaged in diplomatic work or busy fucking his enchanting wife.
    Gervase would probably laugh at him and tell him to do what he liked and
    damnation to their father. Gideon envied his twin who had married against their
    father’s wishes and was deliriously happy. Gervase had no notion of the burden Gideon
    carried as the heir.
    A cab clattered up and Gideon climbed in and directed the driver to White’s.
    Perhaps it was simply a matter of waiting his father out. He grinned at the thought of
    his father stubbornly refusing to die before he was presented with an heir.
    His smile died and he stared out of the mud-spattered window. In the narrow
    social world of the ton , love matches like that of his twin were uncommon. Most of the
    women he