Free The Infamous Bride by Kelly McClymer Page A

doubted possible.
    In the end, she realized, he would be much too sensible to allow himself to become overly attached. After all, Mr. Hopkins was well aware it was Pendrake's heart she meant to discover, not his.
    R.J. had no idea it would be so exhausting keeping Susannah from Juliet's company during their visit. He had made an excuse not to go out on the hunt yesterday, but today he could find no reason to refuse. That would leave Susannah vulnerable to the impetuous Miss Fenster.
    Or perhaps not. His stepmother did seem capable of taking care of the matter, focused as she was on ensuring an engagement for her daughter during the visit.
    It was himself, he found, who could not seem to escape Miss Fenster's company. She had been seated near him at dinner. No amount of taciturn response stopped her chatter. He wondered what it was she wanted from him, only so that he could deny her. Unfortunately, in company he could not ask her.
    "Do you Americans hunt?" she asked in yet another attempt to draw him into conversation.
    "For food, not sport." His answer was not completely truthful. Some Americans still had the habit. Those who wished to be as idle as the English aristocracy. "In America we value hard work and discourage wasteful excess." Her buttons today, he noticed, were jade teardrops that clustered about the neck of her gown. A neckline he would have insisted be raised if he were the one paying for her gowns.
    She pouted at him prettily. "Do you consider plays and other such entertainment wasteful, too?" He could see no sign that his words had offended her as he had meant them to, considering their previous conversations.
    "No. A play, properly performed, can be an uplifting experience for the spirit and good for the mind as well." Annoyed that he had allowed her to goad him into more than a monosyllabic response, he added, "I prefer lectures to plays, of course."
    "It is a shame that my sister Hero and her husband, Arthur, are not here this year, then," she said. For a moment he thought his sally had missed its mark. Then she added, "There is nothing those two enjoy more than sitting for an hour or two listening to someone drone on about some obscure culture or ancient history, too."
    "You make it sound stultifying." He could not help but add, "But I assure you, to the properly trained mind, it is not."
    She wrinkled her nose at him, and her voice rose slightly in mockery, though he did not think any casual listener would recognize it as such. "Give me a good, rousing play any day, Mr. Hopkins. Movement, laughter, tears."
    "That reminds me," said the gentleman on her other side. "Miss Fenster, what play have you chosen for us to perform this year?"
    "One of Mr. Shakespeare's greatest tragedies." She seemed much too pleased with herself, and he felt an uneasy sense that he was about to find out how she meant to get what she wanted despite all his determination to thwart her.
    "Excellent. Then there will be sword work?" The young fop who asked the question barely seemed hardy enough to raise a sword. "I do so enjoy sword work."
    "Enough bloodshed for Attila himself," Juliet assured him, but her eyes darted quickly to R.J., as if she had something planned that involved him. He was certain whatever it was, he would not enjoy it.
    "You will have a play performed here?" The decadence appalled R.J. The duke was a wealthy man, but he thought him wiser in the expenditure of his fortune than this.
    "We will perform a play for our own amusement, Mr. Hopkins. We have done so every year since my sister married the duke. It has become a tradition to honor our late father, who saw fit to name us each after a favorite Shakespearean character. Surely you will participate."
    He opened his mouth to assure her that he would not waste his time playacting, not even in a Shakespearean masterpiece that had been esteemed by her dearly departed sire. He was not given the chance.
    She laughed coquettishly. "You cannot object to the frivolity of a