Read Anne Ashley for Free Online

very expensive. But it wasn’t their worth. Money wasn’t important. It
was the sentimental value that really mattered.
    For a moment temptation almost overcame her. Hand poised over
the open box, she knew it would be a simple matter to extract a few pieces and
hide them in her room—keepsakes, reminders of someone whom she had loved so
dearly. After all, no one would know, she reasoned. As far as she was aware Mr
Pettigrew had never come to the house to take an inventory of the valuables.
Surely he wouldn’t know if a few items of jewellery were missing? And neither
would Luke Kingsley, come to that. Only Janet would know for sure and she would
never betray her.
    The instant the last thought had passed through her mind Briony
closed the box with a snap and put it back in the drawer, thereby placing
temptation out of sight. No, she couldn’t involve Janet in such a deception,
motivated though it was by love and not financial gain. No, it wasn’t right. Nor
was it fair to help herself to valuables that Luke Kingsley had as much right to
have. But if she were to accede to his proposal…?
    For perhaps the hundredth time since his visit that morning,
the idea of doing precisely that filtered through her mind, only to be dismissed
a moment later as unthinkable. Yet, she couldn’t deny, as she had wandered about
the house that afternoon, visiting each and every room, the temptation to become
the mistress of such a fine house, where she had been so happy, had been strong.
She would have every right to the jewellery then, all of it, she reminded
herself. Moreover, for the first time in her life she would be able to come and
go as she pleased. Married women enjoyed far more freedoms, and so would she,
even though the marriage would be one of convenience only.
    Well, there was no denying it might prove to be highly
convenient for her. If Luke Kingsley was a man of his word the marriage would be
annulled after the specified period, then she could continue living at the
Manor, its mistress and its sole owner.
    But could Luke Kingsley be trusted to keep his word? That was
the burning question. After all, she had never known the man, and the boy hardly
at all. Moreover, although her childhood memories didn’t precisely redound to
his credit, she was obliged to acknowledge that for a youth of eighteen, which
he had been when first she had arrived at the house, a twelve-year-old girl was
hardly an ideal companion. Troubled though she was, she couldn’t resist smiling
as this thought crossed her mind. Why, he must have found her a confounded
nuisance, forever trailing after him whenever he spent his holidays at the
Manor!
    Then, of course, he had gone up to Oxford, she reminded
herself, and she had seen hardly anything of him at all. Afterwards the army had
beckoned, and he had been away from these shores for several years fighting in
Portugal and Spain—firstly, under the command of Sir John Moore, and then
Wellesley. Not once since his return, after hearing of his cousin’s death and
becoming heir to the viscountcy, had he paid a visit to the Manor, until today.
If the gossips were to be believed, he enjoyed all the pleasures the capital had
to offer a well-heeled bachelor and, apart from the occasional visit to the
ancestral pile in Kent, he was happy to live all year round in the
metropolis.
    She shook her head. No, none of it made any sense at all. Why
this sudden desire to reside here now? Moreover, surely if he had had any
genuine attachment to the place he wouldn’t be so willing to forfeit his
half-share? Furthermore, it was absurd to suppose he’d taken one look at her and
fallen head over heels in love. No, ridiculous! But, unless he was a complete
simpleton, and she didn’t suppose for a moment he was, there had to be some very
good reason for his wanting to comply with his aunt’s will. So what was it about
Dorsetshire that had instigated the desire to rusticate in the county for a
period of time? Whatever it was,