Free To Marry the Duke's Daughter (After the Masquerade) by Ashley Stormes Page B

sir,
though it does not make sense to me. I have never known him to have interest
in anyone but his mistress.”
    “And he did not take her with him?”
Gregory always took his mistress with him when he travelled.
    “No.”
    “Good.”
    Blythe looked perplexed. “Good, sir?
I would think the opposite if I were you.”
    Jonathon slowly shook his head. “No,
it is good. He will go to Avondale, make a fool of himself, and Felicity will
figure out the truth about my finances and tell her father, who will believe
her. I did not think much of Avondale at first, but it is obvious he loves his
daughter.
    “If my brother arrives on Avondale’s
doorstep to court Felicity, he will do everything in his power to win her. He
despises me enough to think it his right to steal my money and my heart. Lord
Avondale will think it strange that my brother is pursuing Felicity for
himself, when he should know that I am still in love with her.”
    “What if your brother tells Avondale
that you have moved on?” Blythe handed the coffee to John, who downed half of
it in one gulp.
    “Avondale will not believe him.
Chattrecombe, Avondale’s butler, has written well of me. Avondale will not
doubt his butler, or his daughter. He will be curious, however, and will
hopefully bring Felicity back to London. I could not go to Avondale to beg for
her hand; in this way my brother is able to do it for me.”
    Blythe regarded him with a curious
expression. “That’s very clever, sir.”
    Jonathon accepted the compliment after
finishing off the remaining coffee. “I am tired of waiting for them to return.
I feel that I am in a position to court her without fear for my
reputation—or hers—and Chattrecombe has assured me that Avondale is
willing to give me a chance, so long as I can prove that I can provide for
her.”
    “But you are without funds, sir,”
Blythe pointed out. “If you had the money to provide for her, you would have
the funds to keep your own lodgings.”
    Jonathon made a face. “How else was I
to keep an eye on my brother, but to live under his nose? I would have much
rather accepted Mama’s offer to live in Gloucestershire.”
     
     

 
     
    Chapter
Six
    June
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    “Any news, Chattrecombe?”
    “Not yet, sir,” the butler intoned,
helping Carlton into his coat. “I expect to hear from Winston in the next few
days.”
    “I suppose that is enough for now,”
Carlton consented, shrugging so the fabric sat properly on his shoulders. “I
cannot begin to express my current state, old friend.”
    “There is no need, sir. But might I
ask if you have told Felicity the truth? She and Mr. White will both be
anxious to marry, now that they are again in the same city.”
    Carlton blanched. “I cannot tell her.
Not until I know the truth. I do not
want to worry her if this amounts to a farce put on by that dreadful woman.
Everything I have done has been for Felicity; I will not risk her happiness now
by concerning her with my worries. Besides,” he added, “Mr. White may not be
the same man.”
    “He is not; he is better,” Chattrecombe
declared. “If she were my daughter, I could not pick a finer man for her to
marry. At first I had concerns about his temper, but in the past month alone
he has truly refined himself. I would almost suspect that he knew you would be
returning soon, and he needed to prepare himself.”
    “If he knew that his brother intended
to pursue Felicity, he would expect us to return,” Carlton muttered. “That
whole affair is deuced odd.”
    Chattrecombe moved to tie Carlton’s
cravat in the elegant waterfall style. “Lord White went to Avondale?”
    Carlton refrained from nodding as the
butler tied the final knot. “Yes. He wanted to express how much he had missed
Felicity in the ballrooms, which is a bag of bollocks. The man had never
before said a word to her. At first I thought Mr. White had sent his brother
to plead his case, but it is obvious that either Lord White does not