The Earl's Bargain (Historical Regency Romance) by Cheryl Bolen Page B

put a roof over his head. If only she could find a nice little
cottage that didn't cost so very much. Then perhaps she wouldn't
have to dismiss Cook and Williams. Like her, they had nowhere to
go.
    After he left the room, Louisa put away her
sewing and took up her pen. She had best concentrate on her
writing. Every shilling counted, and it looked as if she was going
to have to earn her keep -- and Ellie's and Cook's and Williams' --
through her writing.
    But no sooner had she dipped her quill than
Ellie moved into the room with a length of sarcenet. "I do believe
I'll begin a new dress. Mr. Coke is sure to think I possess but two
dresses."
    Louisa looked up at her lovely sister. "And
what Mr. Coke thinks matters to you?"
    Ellie giggled. "Despite that he's a man, and
you hate men, Mr. Coke is all that is amiable. Can you not agree?"
She fixed her sister with a smile.
    "I know nothing bad about
him," Louisa said, "though I must say I don't think of him
as a man . He seems
rather boyish to me."
    "He's four and twenty ." Ellie said this as
if she were saying he was a hundred.
    My own
age , Louisa thought, realizing that she was
not so very old after all. Actually, she would not be that age
until her next birthday.
    Compared to his elder cousin, Edward Coke
seemed neither manly nor mature. Thinking of Lord Wycliff, she
imagined she heard his voice. A moment later, Williams confirmed
that he and his cousin were downstairs.
    Ellie's hand flew to her hair. "I cannot go
downstairs until I make myself more presentable."
    Louisa smiled as she rose and spoke to her
sister. "I'll tell them you will be down in five minutes."
    "Five minutes! That's not nearly enough
time," Ellie protested.
    Louisa attempted to sound
firm. "That will be enough time, my pet." Then she strolled from
the room and told herself that if that wretched Lord Wycliff were
standing at the bottom of the stairs gazing admirably up at her
again, she would completely ignore him. I
will not let the man's attention rattle me .
    Fortunately, he was in the morning room, not
at the bottom of the stairs. Unfortunately, he stood when she
entered the room, and as always his eyes lingered admiringly over
her from the top of her head to the tip of her satin hoes.
    She tried to ignore him. This she did by
addressing his cousin first. "Mr. Coke, how good it is to see you
and your cousin." An almost imperceptive nod was directed at Lord
Wycliff.
    Not to be ignored, Lord Wycliff stepped
forward, swept into a bow, then took Louisa's hand and pressed his
lips to it. For a bit longer than necessary.
    Curse
him ! She chose to address Mr. Coke again.
"My sister will be down in moment."
    "Capital!" he said. "'Tis a lovely day. I
thought to persuade her to do me the honor of accompanying me on
another walk in the square."
    "Which is an excellent plan," Lord Wycliff
added, looking at Louisa, "for I have business of a very personal
nature to discuss with you, Mrs. Phillips."
    Good lord! He's looking at
me again with those dangerously dark eyes .
The way he said 'personal' brought color to her cheeks. Now she was
acting more the schoolgirl than Ellie.
    Soon Ellie was in the room, and then she
wasn't. And no one was there except for Lord Wycliff and his
wretched eyes. Louisa got up and walked to the window and watched
her sister, who was dressed in light blue, as Ellie put their key
into the lock on the gate to the park in the center of Grosvenor
Square.
    Louisa turned back and faced Lord Wycliff.
"What is it you wish to discuss with me, my lord?"
    "First," he said, "I wish to discuss the
most brilliant piece of writing -- of philosophy -- I've ever
read."
    "Pray, of what author do you speak?" she
asked as she moved toward him, her brows lifted.
    "Jeremy Bentham. I've just read his
Classification of Offenses. You had told me about it, but this was
the first time I had actually read it."
    Now her eyes alighted as she went to sit on
the settee. "He presents it all so logically and with such ease,
one