Charlotte Louise Dolan Read Online Free Page B

that my responsibility in this affair goes so far as to entail sacrificing myself on the altar of matrimony.”
    There was another knock, and Munke opened the door to admit Lady Vawdry, nee Lucy St. John, who did not wait on permission to enter. She was clad in dusky rose from the top of the ostrich plumes on her bonnet to the tips of her dainty half-boots, but the color was the only discreet aspect of her costume.
    Although at thirty-three she was seven years older than Darius, none of the besotted young men vying for her favors would have guessed her to be the older of the two.
    Whatever her errand with her brother, she abandoned it immediately upon catching sight of his visitor.
    “Well, hello.” She advanced remorselessly on her newfound prey. “What a delectable morsel you are, dear boy. Would you like to come over to my house to play?” She reached up with the obvious intention of stroking Nicholas’s cheek, but he backed hurriedly out of her reach.
    “May I introduce ... No, on second thought,” Darius amended, “I don’t feel I should. I don’t particularly want to be the one responsible for ruining another of the Goldsboroughs.”
    The boy had bottom, Darius had to admit that. Young Mr. Goldsborough managed to hold his ground while Lucy stalked him, at least long enough to take proper leave.
    “Well, my dear Lucy, what brings you to my modest domicile?” Darius asked once he was alone with his sister.
    “I wanted to ask you a favor, but do you know, I’ve quite forgotten what it was,” she answered with a gurgling laugh, which had lured more than one man to his downfall, but which left Darius unmoved. “No matter. Tell me, who was that gorgeous young man? Pon rep, he was delicious enough to eat. But wait, did you not mention Goldsborough? That name sounds familiar.”
    She pretended to consider, but Darius, who knew she never forgot the least bit of gossip, was not fooled.
    “Ah, yes, wasn’t she that schoolroom miss who was creating such a stir among the haut ton this Season? To be sure, if memory serves me right, she actually managed to ensnare the elusive Simon Bellgrave. So, what business does her brother have with you?”
    “He informed me that since I was responsible for his sister’s accident, it is therefore my duty to marry her.”
    His sister’s mood altered immediately, and the expression on her face would have quite disillusioned the most ardent of her lovesick swains.
    It was, however, an expression Darius was quite familiar with and quite accustomed to ignoring.
    “Don’t even consider it,” his sister hissed. “I forbid you even to think of marrying her. Never forget what you owe our name.”
    “Our name, my dear sister? One of the few things I appreciate about you is that you no longer bear the name ‘St. John.’ “
    “Don’t think you can trifle with me, little brother. Under no circumstances will I tolerate having you align yourself with someone so disfigured.”
    He smiled mockingly. “Oh, but only consider how great the odds that I will someday return from the wars equally disfigured.”
    “If that should come to pass, don’t bother to return,” she said coldly.
    As an exit line it was dramatic, he had to admit, and quite suitable for the stage. She hadn’t even needed to slam the door behind her for it to be effective.
    He returned to his chair and his earlier abandoned book, but the Peloponnesian War could no longer hold his attention.
    His sister’s adamant opposition to his marrying Elizabeth Goldsborough forced him to reconsider that decision. Not that disobliging his sister constituted an adequate reason for marrying anyone.
    Lucy’s morals, however, were such that she invariably acted in exact opposition to all that was right and good ... and honorable. Looking back, Darius could not remember a time when his sister’s behavior had met with his approval. Not that his disapproval or anyone else’s had ever deterred her from doing exactly what she wanted