Read A Gentleman Says "I Do" for Free Online Page B

matters to us, Auntie, but I don’t think he will be coming back here.”
    “That would be such a shame. He’s a very handsome man. And I disagree with you. I think he will be back.”
    Catalina smiled to herself. If her aunt knew just how handsome Catalina thought the man was, she’d have them married before noon tomorrow. “Come, Auntie. Let me help you back to your room.”
    “No, no, dearest, I’m going stay here and gather my wits together and have dinner with you tonight. Would you like that?”
    “Very much. You know I hate eating alone. But are you sure you’re up to it?”
    Aunt Elle took the handkerchief off her face and rose up on her elbows. “I will be by the time Nancy has dinner ready. Did I make a complete fool of myself in front of your nice young man?”
    Yes.
    “No, no, Auntie,” Catalina said with compassion, refusing to feel guilt or shame for the prevarication. She sat down beside her aunt. “And I told you he is not my young man.”
    “Oh, yes, yes. You explained that.” She smiled knowingly, and her eyes sparkled with innocent mischief. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
    “Auntie, you shouldn’t drink so much sherry late in the afternoon.”
    “Port, dear, it was—” She hiccupped. “Port. You know that nice, young apothecary I’ve been seeing?”
    “I’ve not actually met him, Auntie.”
    “Well, there’s no need you should. He assured me a drink in the evening was good for me.” Aunt Elle’s eyes widened as if she’d just remembered something. “No, he told me a drink in the evening would be good for what ails me.”
    “Yes, one drink in the evening,” Catalina said, trying to keep her voice from sounding like a reprimand. “Not an entire bottle in the afternoon.”
    Her aunt smiled and patted Catalina’s cheek. “I wish I could still fool you the way I could when you were younger.”
    “So do I, Auntie, so do I,” Catalina said, feeling a little sad. During the past year, her aunt had come to rely too often on her tonics, elixirs, and spirits.
    They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Catalina thought about the man who had just left her house. When she’d first seen Mr. Brentwood standing in the vestibule, so confident and commanding, she knew immediately he could easily be the hero of all her dreams. There was a strange quickening in her lower stomach and a catch in her breath.
    He’d looked magnificent. Adonis in the flesh. Broad through the shoulders and chest, he’d worn a starched white shirt of fine lawn beneath a coat of the deepest shade of blue. His neckcloth was simple and tied into a casual bow. Thick brown hair was stylishly brushed away from his high brow and held in a queue at his nape with a strip of black, braided leather. His cheekbones were wide, high, and aristocratic. His face wasn’t classically handsome like her father’s, and he certainly didn’t have her father’s smooth charm and even temperament, but there was no denying Mr. Brentwood’s stirring appeal to her senses and to her intelligence.
    She remembered the solid, uncompromising look to the set of his chiseled jaw and chin, giving him an arrogant attractiveness only a man of power and prestige could achieve. When she’d looked at him, she had felt the stirrings that always came over her when she read her favorite William Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet . She had always dreamed about and wondered what it would be like to love someone with the deep intensity of those two lovers. She often wondered what this madness called love was all about.
    Catalina shook her head and laughed to herself. There were so many more important things to think about than that elusive emotion called love. Starting with the fact that she no longer had all the money The Daily Herald had paid her father for the story. She had to go to Mr. Frederick’s office and do something to keep those last two installments from being published. She would have to promise to pay them back as soon as