Read School For Heiresses 2- Only a Duke Will Do for Free Online

be running this inquisition, not her, for God’s sake.
    “Do they?” When he bristled, she added, “I confess I was surprised you even own a pet, let alone an exotic one.”
    “Why?”
    “Because pets require care, and a man of your position has little time for such.”
    “Unfortunately,” he said dryly, “no one informed Raji of my busy schedule before he decided to adopt me.”
    She blinked. “Adopt you?”
    “He belonged to my aide-de-camp’s Indian wife, who died…tragically. Colin was too distraught to care for him, so he brought the little chap to the funeral, meaning to give Raji to her family. But as soon as the rascal saw me, he latched on and would not let go.”
    And guilt had compelled Simon to keep him. Oddly enough, even though Raji served as a painful reminder of Simon’s misjudgment in India, the creature had also been his salvation in that bleak time. “He
    ’s been with me ever since.”
    “That doesn’t sound like you, either.”
    He flashed her a rueful smile. “True. Yet here I am, monkey in tow. What is a man to do?”
    Her features softened. Then she jerked her gaze from his and cleared her throat. “So what are your plans?”
    He could hardly tell her they rested on what he found out from her. “I am not sure. I only arrived in England three days ago. Why do you ask?”
    “Have you been to Parliament yet?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then I have my answer.”
    He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I do come from a long line of statesmen on my mother’s side.”
    “And on your father’s side,” she quipped, “a long line of pompous, ne’er-do-well dukes.”
    He chuckled. “I see you have grown far too friendly with my sister.”
    “Oh yes, though she talks more about your mother’s illustrious relations than your father’s. It’s a shame that men cannot inherit titles from the mother’s side, because you would have been the perfect heir to your grandfather Monteith, the famous prime minister. And apparently, he thought so, too. From what Regina says, the old earl groomed you most carefully to follow in his footsteps.”
    His amusement vanished. Did his sister have any idea what that “grooming” had entailed? God, he hoped not. He would rather she didn’t know about that humiliating time in his life. Fortunately, she’d had far less contact with their autocratic grandfather than Simon had.
    “Yes, I suppose you could say that,” Simon bit out. “When I was not at Eton, I spent much of my time with him, preparing for a political career.”
    “That’s why everyone expects you to be prime minister.”
    He eyed her closely. “And you? What do you expect of me?”
    He’d meant to turn talk back toward discussion of her group, but her spine went stiff as a palanquin pole. “Nothing. Except that you and I can be civil.”
    “We’re being civil now.” He chose his words carefully. “If you want, I could even help you with your charitable group. Since it dabbles in politics—”
    “We don’t dabble,” she said stoutly. “We’re serious about our aims. One way or the other, we mean to convince Parliament to reform the prisons.”
    One way or the other? Just how political was her group? “It’s a good cause.”
    “If you only knew the horrors those poor women suffer.” Her fingers dug into his arm, and her voice sounded haunted. “It’s time something was done about it. And just because a few idiot MPs trot off to the king to complain about me influencing their wives is no reason for us to stop promoting our cause.”
    Ah, so that’s what had the king so agitated. Still, trying to marry her off was rather extreme. “Perhaps the gentlemen feel that a young, unmarried woman should not be involved in prison reform.”
    “Only because my spinsterhood prevents them from vilifying me publicly.”
    He shot her a surprised glance. “What do you mean?”
    “They can’t complain that I neglect my husband or children, as they do with Mrs. Fry. My freedom to dedicate