Free The Mistress of His Manor by Catherine George Page B

friend of my father managed to achieve comfortable living quarters for us without losing the character of the old rooms. What else can I do?’ he added.
    Jo put the casserole to heat in the microwave, and then handed March a board, a loaf and a bread knife. ‘You can cut some of that.’ In record time she set two steaming plates on the table and sat down. ‘There. No serving dishes tonight,’ she informed him pointedly.
    March ate in silence for a moment, looking across at her. ‘I can’t help who I am, Joanna.’
    ‘No.’ She sighed. ‘It’s just that I felt like such a fool when I found out.’
    ‘You weren’t straight with me either,’ he pointed out. ‘It got me on the raw that you thought I’d be some kind of sponging hanger-on if I heard about your background.’
    She coloured slightly. ‘It’s happened before, so you can understand why.’
    ‘I do. The same goes for my little deception,’ he countered.
    ‘It’s a whole lot bigger than mine,’ said Jo, taking a slice of bread. ‘I don’t have a title, or ancestors who fought in the Civil War.’
    His eyes narrowed. ‘But there’s something mysterious about you, just the same. If you were adopted, do you know who your real parents were?’
    ‘Oh, yes. One day, when—if—I get to know you better, I’ll tell you about them.’
    ‘ When, not if,’ said March flatly. ‘I’m damned if I’ll let an accident of birth prevent a relationship between us, Joanna.’
    ‘Accident?’
    ‘I just happened to be born to a father with a title.’
    ‘Was his name March, too?’
    He shook his head. ‘My grandfather’s. Mother was the only child of Randall Lewis March, an old rogue of an entrepreneur with a finger in every profitable pie going.’
    Jo eyed him questioningly. ‘She must have died young.’
    ‘Just after my finals.’ His eyes shadowed. ‘My father was never the same afterwards.’
    ‘Poor man.’ Impulsively Jo reached out a hand to touch his. ‘You must have suffered, too, March.’
    ‘All three of us did. But Rufus most of all because he was the youngest—her baby boy, as Mother used to tease him.’ March shivered slightly. ‘She had an emergency appendix operation that went wrong. It happened so suddenly we were all in shock afterwards, including my grandfather. He died not long afterwards.’ He released her hand. ‘Sorry, Joanna. You don’t need this right now, when you look so tired. Have you had a bad day?’
    ‘Bad night.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘I was hurt when you stormed off on Saturday night.’
    ‘So was I.’
    ‘Were you?’
    ‘Yes. That’s why I lost it.’ He smiled a little. ‘So, did our fight make your day harder for you? There must be more for you to do while your father’s away.’
    ‘There are plenty of people to keep things moving until the boss gets back to work. Including me.’ Jo smiled proudly. ‘But Jack is the driving force. Even so, I hope he’ll stay home as long as Kate needs him.’
    ‘He looks very young to be your father.’
    ‘Jack’s not even fifty yet, and so far no grey hair. But if you think he looks young you should see Kate!’
    ‘I’d like to very much,’ he said promptly. ‘Or does meeting your mother come under the same heading of “not until you know me better”?’
    Jo looked at him in thoughtful silence. ‘Look, March,’ she said at last, ‘now I know who you are it’s just so hard for me to see that happening.’
    ‘Because of the blasted title,’ he snapped, and got up so suddenly the table rocked. ‘I can’t change it, Joanna. I am who I am.’
    ‘I know that!’ Jo leapt up in consternation. ‘Please don’t storm off again.’
    ‘Why not?’
    She glared at him resentfully. ‘You could at least try a little more persuasion.’
    Suddenly very still, March raised an unsettling eyebrow. ‘If I do resort to persuasion, Miss Logan, it might not be to your taste.’
    ‘Try me.’
    He held out his hand, his eyes bright with something that