Free Good Earl Gone Bad by Manda Collins

lose whatever strength her anger had given her. And in its place was a resignation that was far more difficult to see. “Papa, I am not a fool. And I do not admit that what you did was right. By law you might be entitled to my belongings, but ethically, what you did was a betrayal. And I’m not sure I shall ever be able to forgive you.”
    The silence that fell upon the little room was near deafening. Jasper wanted to speak, simply to relieve the tension. But he held his tongue. He was here to see that they didn’t kill each other. But the discussion was between Hermione and her father.
    Then, as if from long years of practice, Upperton stepped forward and touched his daughter on the shoulder. If her flinch upset him, he didn’t show it. Merely held on tight and said, “I understand you’re angry, daughter, but as I said, it was men’s business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I said I’d meet some friends in the card room.”
    Hermione bit her lip, but said nothing. Just waited silently for her father to leave the room.
    When the door closed behind him, Jasper moved to stand in front of her. “All right?” he asked quietly. He wanted to take her in his arms, but they were not at that stage yet. If they ever would be. He was all too aware that his own frequent appearances at the gaming tables—no matter how he might think himself far more controlled than Upperton—could pose a problem for someone who had lost so much because of them. As Hermione had.
    Almost as if she’d overheard his thoughts, she said, “You were there last night, weren’t you?”
    At his nod, she turned away from him and moved to stand before the fire, where Lord Upperton had so lately stood.
    â€œDid you know that the reason we let the London town house and moved to Half-Moon Street was because he needed the money to pay back his debts?” she asked without turning. “My father has lost everything that isn’t entailed. And the estate is in such disrepair that the tenants whose families have lived on Upperton land for centuries live in squalor while he goes about his business as usual. Plays every night, convinced that he will finally win enough so that we can move back into the Upperton town house.”
    â€œI did not know it,” Jasper said softly, stepping forward to stand just a breath away from her. “But I am not surprised. With men like your father, it is almost a sickness. They cannot stop playing no matter how much they lose.”
    She turned. But didn’t seem surprised to find him so much closer. Instead she looked up, and lifted her hand to finger the diamond stickpin winking from the center of his neck cloth.
    â€œAnd do you also have this sickness?” she asked, not looking up. “Do you feel a compulsion to throw away your family’s money over the turn of a card?”
    â€œIt’s not like that with me,” he said, though he knew that was exactly what a man who could not turn away from the tables would say. “It is something I enjoy. Something I am good at. That is all.”
    At last she looked up, and he saw skepticism mixed with some other emotion in her eyes. “Are you good at it?” she asked softly. And he wondered if they were still speaking about gambling.
    In the soft light of the little room, her skin was luminous, and Jasper found himself counting the tiny freckles ranged out over the bridge of her nose. “I’m very good,” he said, and knew that he, at least, didn’t mean gambling.
    Almost as if they were being pulled together by a magnetic force, he lowered his head and took her lips in a kiss as soft as a whisper.
    *   *   *
    His lips were softer than she’d imagined.
    That was the first thing that ran though Hermione’s mind as Jasper kissed her. The second was that she wanted more. And when she opened her mouth under his, she got it.
    Almost as if he were asking