Free Seduction by Amanda Quick Page A

somewhere in her throat. She watched with sick fascination as he took another sip. "Chamomile and… and other flowers. It has a very soothing effect on nerves that have become somewhat over agitated."
    Julian nodded absently. "Excellent. He paused in front of the little rosewood desk to study the handful of books she had carefully arranged there. "Ah, the lamentable reading material of my bluestocking bride. Let me see just how regrettable your tastes really are."
    He pulled first one and then another of the leather-bound volumes off the shelf. He helped himself to a second sip of tea while he studied the engraved leather bindings. "Hm. Virgil and Aristotle in translation. Admittedly a bit overpowering for the average reader but not really all that terrible. I used to read this sort of thing myself."
    "I'm glad you approve, my lord," Sophy said stiffly.
    He glanced at her, amused. "Do you find me condescending, Sophy?"
    "Very."
    "I don't mean to be, you know. I'm merely curious about you." He replaced the classics and removed another volume. "What else have we here? Wesley's
Primitive Physic
? A rather dated work, is it not?"
    "Still an excellent herbal, my lord. With much detail about English herbs. Grandfather gave it to me."
    "Ah, yes. Herbs." He put the book down and picked up another volume. He smiled indulgently. "Well, now, I see Lord Byron's romantic nonsense has made its way into the countryside. Did you enjoy
Childe Harold
, Sophy?
    "I found it very entertaining, my lord. What about you?"
    He grinned unabashedly at the open challenge. "I'll admit I read it and I'll admit the man has a way with melodrama, but, then he comes from a long line of melodramatic fools. I fear we shall hear more from Byron's melancholy heroes."
    "At least the man is not dull. I understand Lord Byron is quite the rage in London," Sophy said tentatively, wondering if she had accidentally stumbled across a point of mutual intellectual interest.
    "If by that you mean the women are busy throwing themselves at him, you're right. A man could get trampled under a lot of pretty little feet if he was idiotic enough to attend a crush where Byron was also present." Julian did not sound envious in the least. It was obvious he found the Byron phenomenon amusing, nothing more. "What else have we here? Some learned text on mathematics, perhaps?"
    Sophy nearly choked as she recognized the book in his hand. "Not exactly, my lord."
    Julian's indulgent expression was wiped off his face in an instant as he read the title aloud. "Wollstonecraft's A
Vindication of the Rights of Women
?"
    "I fear so, my lord."
    His eyes were glittering as he looked up from the book in his hands. "This is the sort of thing you have been studying? This ridiculous nonsense espoused by a woman who was no better than a demirep?"
    "Miss Wollstonecraft was not a…a demirep," Sophy flared indignantly. "She was a free thinker, an intellectual woman of great ability."
    "She was a harlot. She lived openly with more than one man without benefit of marriage."
    "She felt marriage was nothing but a cage for women. Once a woman marries she is at the mercy of her husband. She has no rights of her own. Miss Wollstonecraft had deep insight into the female situation and she felt something should be done about it. I happen to agree with her. You say you are curious about me, my lord. Well, you might learn something about my interests if you read that book."
    "I have no intention of reading such a piece of idiocy." Julian tossed the volume carelessly aside. "And what is more, my dear, I am not going to have you poisoning your own brain with the writing of a woman who, by rights, should have been locked away in Bedlam or set up in Trevor Square as a professional courtesan."
    Sophy was barely able to restrain herself from throwing her full cup of tea at him. "We had an agreement on the matter of my reading habits, my lord. Are you going to violate that, also?"
    Julian gulped down the last of his tea and