Read A Kiss for Lady Mary for Free Online Page A

to tell the truth. I do understand youthful indiscretions. We went through more than a few with Crispin. Too many of them, to be honest. You have not caused anywhere near the worry he did. In fact, your behavior has been exemplary, and I promise neither your mother nor I will be upset. We’ll find a way to make the best of it.”
    Make the best of what? Why was Papa bringing up his dead brother? Unlike Crispin, whose behavior had been nothing short of scandalous, Kit had made a point of never courting any type of scandal at all. He would never willingly put his parents through that sort of anguish again. “Sir, I think you’d better just tell me what it is you’re talking about, because I haven’t the least idea.”
    “Kit, are you already married?”
    His breath stopped as if one of Jackson’s punches had landed square in the middle of his stomach. Hell and damnation. “ Married! What the deuce gave you that idea?”
    His father poured brandy into a second glass, pushing it across the desk to him. “You’d better have some of this.”
    Kit took a sip, then set the tumbler down. This was no time to have his brain muddled. That would come later when, for only the second time in his life, he would drink himself into a stupor. “Where did you get the idea I had wed?”
    “Lady Bellamny was in Northumberland to fetch her goddaughter’s daughter, whom she is sponsoring for the Season. While she was there—”
    The hairs on the back of Kit’s neck prickled. “Where in Northumberland?”
    “Rosebury.”
    Rose Hill .
    His father raised a brow. “May I continue? This will go much more quickly if you allow me to tell you what I know, and then ask questions.”
    A flush crept up Kit’s cheeks. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry I interrupted.”
    “As I was saying . . .” Papa took another drink. “When Lady Bellamny was there, she met a female calling herself Lady Mary Featherton who is residing at Rose Hill. That’s the property you inherited from your great-aunt, is it not?”
    “Yes, sir.” That told him nothing. Mary must be the most common name in England, if it was indeed her real first name, which it probably was not. That the impostor had used the name of the woman he wished to wed made him want to strangle her. A dull ache began in Kit’s jaw and he unclenched his teeth.
    “Have you been up there recently?”
    “No, but that will change.” Immediately . “When did you speak with Lady B?”
    “I did not. She told your grandmother, who was typically cryptic when she spoke to me, after which your mother did a very good job gleaning all the pertinent facts from Lady B. I, therefore, felt no need to approach her.” Papa took a sip of brandy. “I take it the lady is not, in truth, your wife?”
    “Is she a lady?”
    “From what I was told, there is no doubt.”
    Who the devil could she be? Kit couldn’t think of any lady who would engage in such an outrageous stunt, and he certainly didn’t want to think of the scandal this would cause if it got out. Particularly now that his sister appeared to have decided on a suitor at long last. “How do we contain the news until I can meet with the woman and discern what game she is playing at?”
    “I’ve been assured Lady Bellamny will not mention it to anyone.”
    All well and good, but what about the girl she was sponsoring? Young ladies were known to blurt out almost anything going through their heads. What if he were introduced to the young lady that evening? Or someone mentioned him and she happened to mention the person at Rose Hill? Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he imagined the scandal. He pushed aside the brandy and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I shall make arrangements to leave on the morrow at the latest, though I shall try to cancel my engagements for the next few weeks and depart this afternoon.”
    His father nodded. “You may take my new traveling coach and use the horses I have posted along the Great North Road.”
    He bowed.