Page 28 of Scandalous Heiress
“At my leisure.”
He laughed, throwing back his head.“You’ve had a good go at it.Three years?”
He knew how long.The same number of years Ezzie had been in Europe.“Four.”
“Your papa is not in a hurry to see you wed?”
“My papa believes marriage should be more than a contractual arrangement.”
“Ah, you Americans.Love is the elixir.”
“That plus companionship and mutual interests.”
He picked up a rock, stopped and threw it across the rushing river.“It’s fine to marry where you will when you have the luxury to look beyond the bank balance.Some of us do not have that freedom.”
Some of us assume too much freedom.
“I understand your father earned his fortune by running the Union shipping lines.Some say he sold African men.”
That stiffened her spine.“The first is true.The second, not.”
“No?”
This man could be so rude.She was delighted to correct him.“He ran the blockade for the Confederates, running cotton to this country for a few planters, but he stopped early in the war.”
“I see.Why?If it was profitable?”
“Because by selling their cotton and importing rifles to the South, he contributed to the continuation of the war.He didn’t want that.Especially because he does not support slavery.”
“So he didn’t sell slaves himself?”
“Never.In fact, on one trip, he saved all aboard a sinking slaver and set the whole lot free in the next port.”
Richard paused and nodded.“A good man.So what they say, that Killian Hanniford is notorious, is wrong.”
“I would say so.I suppose your belief has to rest on whether you take all gossip as truth?”
“You have it right there.”He picked up another rock and threw it into the water.“I believe everyone is entitled to their mistakes.”
Mistake.A small word for a rather gargantuan sin of taking another man’s wife to your bed.
“Do that again.”Victor walked up to them, pointing to the river.
Ada sagged in relief that he’d left Chaumont.Unkind as that was, jealousy was not an emotion she had ever experienced.She smiled at Victor, happy that he’d come to her side to free her of this dastardly conversation.
“What?Think you can best me, old man?”Richard said.Hovering over Ada, he let his eyes dance.“Skipping rocks was a game we often played.”
“And bet money on,” said Victor with a wide-eyed look at her.
“Bet me now,” Richard said.
“Ten pounds I can get three.”Victor lifted his chin.
“Double that!”Richard laughed.
“Triple that,” she said.
Richard grimaced.“Oh, no.You jest, don’t you?”
