Never Fall for Your Fiancee
- Автор: Heath Virginia
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: St. Martin's Publishing Group
- Жанр: Исторические любовные романы
Электронная книга - «Never Fall for Your Fiancee». Краткое содержание книги:
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Virginia Heath's fun characters and situations will have you laughing out loud! Don't miss this wonderful read! - Sabrina Jeffries, *New York Times* bestselling author**
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The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.**
“And uses them selfishly to distract everyone from whatever he wants to distract them from.”
“Indeed, he does.” Jeremiah looked back at his stepson affectionately, who was now pointing to something while his mother smiled. “But not always selfishly. He’s always had a talent for using the right words to pour oil on troubled waters. A second ago they were arguing—but now his mother is laughing. Another potentially awkward moment already ironed over. He always hated confrontation, even as a boy, and went to ridiculous lengths to avoid being the cause of it.”
“Did you know Hugh as a child?”
“Since about the age of ten. His father and I were friends. Good friends. He befriended me at a time when Englishmen hated Americans and vice versa, and we remained friends forever after.”
“How?”
“Diplomacy, my dear. After the War of Independence and before the War of 1812, relations between our countries were hostile. For my sins, I was sent here as part of the United States Legation to London when tensions still ran high. It was a difficult time. Hugh was one of the peers assigned to the Foreign Office and he held out an olive branch.”
“Hugh? Worked for the Foreign Office? When?”
“Not your Hugh. His father. Didn’t you know he’s named after his daddy?”
“I didn’t.”
“Now he’s older, sometimes I swear it’s like looking at the old Hugh in a mirror. Peas in a pod, the pair of them.” He smiled, remembering. “Both had a way with words. Both thoroughly charming. Both born diplomats. Both worried too much about others.”
“He never told me…” More pieces of the difficult puzzle that was Hugh slotted into place. She had sensed those qualities, knew they drew her, but had no proof. “Not any of it.”
Jeremiah nodded, then sighed. “I’m not surprised. He doesn’t like to talk about his father any more than he likes to talk about himself. I think it’s still too raw.” That certainly explained his reluctance to talk about him when she had asked.
“It’s hard to lose a parent.”
“Yes … of course.” Jeremiah’s expression was suddenly filled with sympathy. “You recently lost your own father. My sincerest commiserations. I should have said that before.”
“We were not close in the way Hugh was with his father.” Something about Jeremiah made her spill the truth without thinking. “The sad truth is, he was a selfish man who always put himself first and never really cared about the feelings of others.”
She caught him studying her with interest and realized she was in grave danger of deviating from the original plan, because she was discussing her real father. “His solitary walk in the Cairngorms is a perfect example of his selfishness. His Scottish relations begged him not to go out, but he thought he knew best and lived to rue the day.” A thoroughly stupid thing to say. “Or didn’t … as it turned out.” In case the flagrant lie was apparent in her eyes, she looked down at her feet. “It really is a convoluted story, isn’t it? Consumption and the Cairngorms. No wonder Olivia had her doubts about it?”
His deep chuckle rumbled, and she looked up to see him nodding in agreement. “She came here determined to catch Hugh out—and caught your entire family instead. Her face was a picture, I can tell you.”
“I’ll wager it was. Perhaps almost as stunned as Hugh’s was to find her in the drawing room a good two weeks before she had told him she would arrive. I suppose she took that earlier ship on purpose.”
“Already you know my wife so well. I believe the pair of you will get on famously. Once she’s ascertained you are worthy, of course.” He winked, and Minerva was suddenly uncomfortable. Because she wasn’t worthy. She was lying to two lovely people for money.
They rounded a copse of trees, and she saw a cluster of thatched roofs in the distance, their matching chimney pots puffing out cheerful smoke. In case her crushing guilt leaked and made Jeremiah suspicious, too, Minerva decided to change the subject. “Another village? I didn’t realize.”
“Not a village at all. It’s much too small. That’s Hugh’s Hamlet. Or at least that’s what the locals have taken to calling it.”
“Hugh’s Hamlet?”
“Your fiancé’s revolutionary solution to the aging or widowed tenants on the estate?” At her genuinely baffled expression, he shook his head. “Most landlords kick those who can no longer work off their land. The good ones pay them a small pension to ensure they can afford to live somewhere else. Hugh decided to build them their own little cottages so they can stay here till the end of their days rent-free alongside their pensions.”
“What a lovely thing to do.” Something odd happened beneath Minerva’s ribs. A little thud, like a bolt sliding into place, then her heart seemed to grow and swell. Hugh really was a nice man. Perhaps one of the nicest.
“I’m guessing by that stunned look, he never mentioned it?”
“Of course he didn’t. And I sincerely doubt he’d have taken any credit for it if I had asked him, so thank you for enlightening me.” The more she learned about her fake fiancé, the more she liked him—when already there was so much she liked. A dangerous state of affairs when they had no future.
“He wanted to reward them for their years of loyalty. Like his father, Hugh is also an unfashionably liberal man. And just like his daddy, he doesn’t brag about it either. If anything, he’s cagier about his philanthropic work than his day-to-day work and that’s saying something when the whole of London thinks all he does is enjoy himself.”
“I knew he is diligent with estate matters … but I had no idea he was philanthropic.”
“Then, my dear, it would be my pleasure to enlighten you. Just don’t tell Hugh I let slip his dirty little secret. He’d never forgive me for telling you the shocking truth.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Do any of you play the pianoforte?” His mother directed the question to all three sisters, pointing to the instrument in the corner of the drawing room, and Hugh kicked himself for not knowing the answer. Music was one of the accomplishments considered acceptable for all gently bred young ladies. Now that their second dinner was done, and they were moving past the getting-to-know-you stage and moving to the what-shall-we-do-to-while-away-the-next-hour stage, it was inevitable his mother would want to hear someone play.
“Sadly no.” It was Diana who responded. “None of us have ever shown any talent with an instrument. But Minerva is an exceptionally gifted artist and Vee excels at sewing and embroidery. I dabble in writing short stories, my lady. I did try poetry for a while, but my efforts were a little too dark for the medium and they gave Vee nightmares. We all enjoy reading, although our tastes are vastly different.”
“What sort of books do you prefer, Miss Diana?”
“Being a terminal cynic, with a curious penchant for the macabre, I tend to favor a good gothic novel. The more horrible, the better. I recently read a very disturbing book called Frankenstein. It is about a mad doctor who makes a monster out of bits and pieces of the many bodies he has robbed from graves, then brings it to life. Have you read it?”
“I cannot say that I have.” His mother pulled a face. “And I must say, Diana, you are not really convincing me to read it either.” She shuddered. “Monsters and stolen body parts do not appeal to me.”
“Me either.” It had taken a week, but now apparently even Vee had finally found her voice. “I prefer the classics. Milton, Shakespeare, Homer, Chaucer … I adore The Canterbury Tales and the Iliad. I am currently reading Paradise Lost. It is fascinating to think a man from so long ago could be so insightful.”