Free The Offer by Catherine Coulter

the family in the early part of the last century. “At last the lady is well occupied. Remind me to buy a Christmas present for Edgar. I will give him my favorite watch fob. Yes, that’s it. Watch fobs are excellent gifts.”
    â€œWas she bothering you again about Phillip?”
    â€œIt’s her Greek chorus. I think Miss Elliott has matrimony in mind for Phillip. I did have the good sense not to tell her that the viscount is likely relieving his tedium during the storm in the arms of some Yorkshire beauty.”
    Margaret, in all seriousness, said low, “But where, Charlie? At some inn? I thought Phillip was more discriminating in his taste. A taproom wench?”
    Charles grinned. He’d rather expected to shock her, but it was not to be. She’d been married to Sir Hugh Drakemore for nearly a year now and his shy, frequently tongue-tied little sister was now worldly and assertive. He quite liked the change in her. As for her husband, Sir Hugh still seemed the same—serious, quiet, studied in his reflections. Ah, but there had to be more, a lot more, just look at the change wrought in Margaret. “No, you’re right. That’s a problem. Phillip is very selective. Perhaps he is visiting one of our neighbors and it is a daughter or wife he is currently enjoying.”
    â€œNo, Charlie, Phillip wouldn’t seduce a married woman.”
    â€œNow, how would you know that?”
    â€œHe told me.”
    â€œMargaret, surely you’re jesting with me, surely—”
    â€œNo, really. I asked him, you see, once about twoyears ago when I fancied myself in love with him. He was so nice. He knew exactly how I felt and he was very careful of my feelings. I had heard that he’d bedded Mrs. Stockton, the ambassador’s wife, and he hadn’t. As best he knew, he’d turned the lady down and out of spite she’d spread rumors that he’d seduced her. It angered him, Charlie. He said married ladies were no longer on the playing field.”
    Margaret, in love with Phillip? Charles had never guessed, never even speculated. “Come to think of it, I can’t think of a single married lady that Phillip has bedded. You no longer, er, feel this way toward Phillip, do you, Margaret?”
    â€œNo, not after I met Hugh. One week with Hugh and every man I’d ever met faded out of my mind.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œBut you know, Charlie, I’ve often wondered why he has never married. I know for a fact how many lovely young ladies would gladly accept him.”
    â€œNow therein lies a tale. Have you ever met the Countess of Bufford?”
    Margaret cocked her head to one side, making the brown ringlets over her left ears fall to her shoulder. “Of course. She’s a leader among the ton. Mother dislikes her intensely, but she told me she is too powerful to cross, that I must always watch my back around her. I told Mother that she looks so lovely, so innocent, so guileless, but Mother just laughed and told me not to trust her. I know that Lord Bufford adores her. What does she have to do with Phillip?”
    â€œWhen she came out six years ago, she quickly earned herself the title of the Ice Maiden. She was endowed with both splendid beauty and wealth, and her instant success followed naturally from both of these facts together. Phillip was a young captain in the hussars, in London that spring because his father, thelate viscount, had just died. Phillip was young, inexperienced in the ways of women like Elaine, and raw with grief from the death of his father.”
    â€œGood God, you don’t mean that Phillip fell in love with that awful woman?”
    Charles shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not certain exactly what it was he felt for Elaine, but I do know that he wanted her. Is that love? I don’t know, Margaret. Phillip was only twenty years old, a boy. And boys are prone to lust, no other way to put it. Ah, look, Edgar is pleading