Read Trouble With Harry for Free Online Page B

“Ram’s Bottom, sir.”
    Harry’s eyes widened as he glanced down at her muddy hem. “You walked eight miles?”
    The chin rose again, just as he knew it would. He smiled to himself, more than satisfied with his choice. This woman would not leave him bored after a few days, as all the others threatened to do.
    â€œYes, I did. I find walking quite beneficial to the constitution.”
    â€œAnd so it is, however, sixteen miles in one day is a bit more benefit than anyone could need, even someone who is in your”—he allowed his gaze to caress her curves for just a moment, not long enough to be offensive, but enough to let the lady know he found her attractive—“fit condition. Temple?”
    â€œYes, sir. I will arrange for Miss Pelham to be taken home.”
    Harry beamed at her, bid her a good day, and put his heels to Thor, riding home with a whistle on his lips, satisfaction in his heart, and a throb in his breeches that predicted a very happy future.
    ***
    Plum entered the dark cottage as the hired carriage rattled down the lane, more than a little dazed by the happenings of the day. She was betrothed! To a gentleman she had known for all of five minutes, a very handsome man, a man who had laugh lines around his eyes and an unruly lock of sandy hair that hung over his forehead. A man who either had some infirmity of the lower limbs that prohibited him from dismounting, or…Plum giggled as she lit the candles around the small room. Once when she and Charles were having tea at her old nurse’s cottage, he had been unwilling to leave at the end of the visit. He told her later that he had been musing upon the pleasure of their most recent connubial calisthenics, and had to remain seated until several minutes later when he had himself in control. The way Harry had draped his coat over his lap was reminiscent of Charles playing with her shawl in such a manner as to conceal his groin.
    â€œIf he was in a similar situation because of me,” she told the cat Maple as she lit the fire and prepared to warm up the potato soup remaining from the day before, “I shall be very pleased, very pleased indeed, for it indicates that he is interested in bedchamber sports. Heaven knows I am.”
    â€œI am as well, despite the fact that you won’t let me read your book,” a voice said behind her.
    Plum shrieked and dropped the soup ladle, clutching her heart as she spun around.
    Thom was seated on the floor in a dark corner, a bowl of milk and several pieces of straw beside her. “Which is silly, when you think about it, for how am I ever to learn the joys of such activities if you won’t let me read about them?”
    â€œYou swear you won’t ever marry, so such knowledge is of no use to you. What are you doing there sitting in the corner in the dark?” Plum, having reassured herself that her heart was not going to leap out of her chest, returned to warming the soup.
    â€œFeeding mice. Their mother was taken by one of the cats that live in the shed. I’ve found that they’ll drink milk easily enough if I use a piece of straw.”
    Plum gave a resigned sigh at the newest inhabitants of their little cottage and hunted for the stale heel of bread she remembered seeing.
    â€œAs for the other, I do not intend ever to marry—at least none of the gentlemen you think are so suitable. They’re nothing but idle fribbles, bent on wenching their way through their lives. But I should like to see your book nonetheless. After all, one does not have to be married to perform calisthenics, connubial or otherwise.”
    Plum’s cheeks heated as she turned to glare at her niece. “No, one doesn’t, as I know well, but issues of morality aside, to do otherwise is to put yourself in a position of disadvantage. Women have little enough control over their lives, and even less power against men. Marriage at least offers some