Elin Gregory

How the heck did it get to be Wednesday? I’ve been vaguely aware of time passing but it hasn’t meant much. So Wednesday and I haven’t signed up for HDH. Never mind I can still post and can still provide links to the other authors. Just click on the picture and the magic of the internet will whisk you away to a magical realm … okay to Blog Spot but the principle’s the same. I’ve been awake since 2 am so don’t expect sense, right.

So excerpts. Yes, posting excerpts is what it’s all about and I’ve been posting excerpts of an ancient Regency romance that I have no idea what to do with.

This week Patrick and his cousin Gerald continue the conversation begun here with Patrick being less than concerned about his dear old Dad.

~

“What’s the old rat-bag complaining about now?” Patrick asked.
“Did you know that he is in London?”
“No, why should I?”
“So, he read the paper this morning. Patrick, he’s furious. Not even a FitzRoy can get away with putting an entry like that in the public press for a joke. The Stanton-Rivers will be after your blood!”
“They’ll have to join the queue, then.”
“But think of the scandal. What if they call you out? Or take you to court?” Pat grinned and shrugged. Gerald sighed and laid the book aside. “Are you going to publish a rebuttal, then?” he asked.
“No.”
“I just don’t understand you!”
“Too many long words, is it, Gerald?” Pat laughed and tugged Aubrey’s letter out of his pocket with a flourish. “The Stanton-Rivers are well content. I am invited to take tea with them tomorrow. Tea at three, Gerald, not pistols at dawn, so the old man can rest easy and mind his own bloody business.”
“But it is his business,” Gerald protested. “He is anxious to make the best possible match for you and – may I speak frankly, Patrick?”
“Go ahead,” Patrick invited.
“There has always been a special relationship between our families,” Gerald said, leaning forward and placing a cousinly hand upon Patrick’s knee. “It was the fondest wish of both our fathers that the relationship should become closer still.”
“Christ, Gerry, are you proposing?”
~
More next time.