Losing the Earl: Regency Romance Clean Read (Yearnings for Love Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

she put her hand on it as they made to leave.
    She leaned in towards him, “I loved the poem you wrote me last night.”
    Samuel said, “I did not write you anything.”
    “You’re too modest.”
    “I know I am.” He turned and smiled at her.
    Reaching the end of the hall, Mary left him for the parlor and cards as Samuel headed to the billiards room.
     

Chapter 7
     
     
     
     
    “Why do you watch the snow?” Mary could hear the annoyance in her mother’s tone. Lucy and Victoria had taken off leaving her with Samuel’s mother and her own. They played piquet and Mary was left out as it was a two-player game.
    Her father had downed a few glasses of wine; his harpsichord playing gave him away. He wouldn't play if not at least tipsy. He would play for a few minutes at a time stopping mid-composition to converse, or tell a joke. He started playing Bach’s “The Well Tempered Clavier” and skipped to “Praeludium XV.” He always played this when looking to impress company. 
    Mary excused herself to look for Samuel. Outside the billiards room she heard laughter and the sounds of a game in action. She couldn’t see who Samuel was speaking to as she waited just outside the door.
    “You ever hit a boar up close with a Baker Rifle?”
    Mary couldn’t make out the response.
    “It’s a magnificent thing, the beasts head explodes. They were made for the infantry but I have a friend who is a Colonel and he gifted me two of them. The only thing better than a good hunt is heading to a brothel after the hunt. Though, now that I’m going to be married, I must switch up when I go home for it and when I go out for it. How do you deal with that?”
    Mary wanted to heave. She needed the company of friends to make her feel right again. She followed the sounds of fathers playing. Outside the music room, she stopped as did her father’s playing.
    “So, when you got to Italy it was all gone?”
    “Napoleon is a little thief. I just realized how poorly I worded that. He has stolen many Roman treasures, which are now in Paris. But I have this…” William stopped, “Lucy please don’t get up, I’ll bring it to you after Mr. Wentworth has a look.”
    “Is this your handy work?”
    “Yes. I do not do the master justice.”
    “I am amazed…breathtaking.” Lucy's voice annoyed Mary. She didn’t like her complimenting William, not that it mattered. But something about it stirred unexpected feelings —of jealousy?— in hearing Lucy voice it.
    “That is painted on the ceiling of the Popes private chapel, called the ‘Sistine Chapel.’ Napoleon obviously couldn’t take that back to Paris.”
    “My goodness, I never knew I looked so beautiful.” Hearing the tone in Lucy 's voice forced Mary into action and she entered the music room. Lucy lay on a red velvet fainting chair. She held open a leather bound sketch and was studying a portrait of herself. William's hands were blackened by drawing charcoal.
    William noticed her and turned and smiled. “I’m not done with you, but here, may I have that?” Taking the book from Lucy, William turned the pages back to another charcoal drawing. Adam sat naked with one arm outstretched as the hand of God reached out to give life.
    “God giving life to Adam after creating the world, I do not do it justice, but is it not amazing to dwell upon?”
    Mary felt her face warming, “He seems to be missing something.”
    “God did not create Adam clothed.”
    Mary flipped through the pages. Each page contained drawings of people and places where William had been. He explained each of the drawings. She stopped on one that seemed out of place. The sketch was a cross section of a ship, done in ink, with notes and labels.
    “You’ve found one of my boats,” he smiled. “I hope to design them upon returning home. I do these drawings so when I go places I can share with the people I meet the places I’ve been. When I get home, I’ll be able to show my father the