Free A Dangerous Love by Sabrina Jeffries

to see him here now with Leonard’s son, making things right as best he could without ruining the girls’ lives.
    The thought stiffened his resolve. “Come in, sir, and let me see you.”
    As Juliet flitted into the room in all her young, innocent splendor, Knighton followed behind. The man seemed to pay her charms little heed, which worried Percival.
    He dragged himself up straighter in the bed.“Close the door,” he commanded. “We cannot have the servants sticking their noses in our business, eh?”
    The big man nodded and did Percival’s bidding, but once the door was closed, he approached the bed with a wary expression.
    “Speaking of employees,” Percival continued, “Helena tells me you brought your man of affairs with you to Swan Park.”
    “I did.”
    “Good, good.” He hoped Knighton’s reason for it was so they might draw up the marriage settlement with all due speed. “His name is Brinley or something?”
    “Brennan.” Knighton clipped the word off as if offended. “It’s Brennan.”
    “An Irishman, eh? I suppose they have their uses.” Percival gestured to the door. “Well, where is the man? Why is he not here?”
    “We didn’t want to crowd too many people into the room, Papa,” Juliet broke in. “Mr. Brennan is with Rosalind. She’s showing him around the estate.”
    That could be a promising development. If Rosalind stayed occupied with the man of affairs, she could not drive Knighton off with her bold manner and impudent tongue.
    “Come closer, man,” Percival demanded. “My eyesight is not so keen as it used to be. Let me get a better look at you.”
    The man advanced like a soldier preparing to meet the enemy. He was so tall the top of his head brushed the fringe hanging down from the canopy of the bed, and his broad shoulders blocked out some of the light.
    Percival squinted up at him. “You do not resemble your father a bit.”

    “I look like my mother.”
    “You do not much resemble Georgina either.”
    Knighton seemed confused. “You knew her?”
    “Of course. Did you not realize that? I mean, considering—” Percival broke off with a glance at Helena. The girls must not hear this. Besides, he should first determine how much Knighton knew. It was possible, he supposed, that Leonard and Georgina had told him very little. The case Percival had brought against Leonard had occurred when the boy was but a babe. “In any case, I knew her very well. Once.”
    “I…um…never heard her talk about you.” Knighton stumbled over his words as if expecting any moment to have them contradicted.
    That pained Percival, though he knew he deserved it. “No doubt she thinks badly of me.” He dragged in a heavy breath that set off a fit of coughing. Juliet hurried to his side with a basin and his tincture of comfrey, while Helena stood by, looking helpless.
    He spit into the basin, then swallowed some of the tincture and cleared his throat. “You see how my daughter coddles me, Knighton. I would not recommend a lung disease to anyone, but it has its compensations.” He caught Juliet’s hand and patted it. “My dear gel here is always hovering around me. She is my pride and joy, a good gel with a good heart.”
    For no reason that Percival could see, Knighton shot Helena a look. He, too, glanced over at his oldest, but aside from standing more stiffly than usual, she looked the same as always to him—reserved, serene, the perfect lady.
    Dismissing the odd moment, he returned his attention to Knighton. “So what do you think ofSwan Park? I suppose your father told you all about it when you were a boy. Did his description do it justice?”
    “Nothing could do it justice, m’lord.”
    Peculiar how Knighton’s pronunciations were a bit vulgar, but he supposed that was to be expected from a man who worked so much in trade. Given all that Percival had learned in recent years about the man’s childhood…
    No, he would not think about that. It weighed too heavily on his