Read Online Almost a Lady by Heidi Betts - Free Book Online

also think that if we hope to form a successful alliance, you'd better stop seeing me as a woman and start seeing me as a detective."
    "That's kind of hard when said detective is prancing around half naked in front of her partner.” He looked pointedly at the lacy trim of her shift, visible through the gaping edges of her robe. “You may think of yourself as more detective than woman, Miss Hastings, but I assure you, I am all man."
    A dare lay somewhere within those words, she was sure, but she refused to take the bait. Instead, she decided to throw out a thinly veiled challenge of her own.
    She moved to stand over him, one hand grasping the wood trim at the back of the settee, the other resting on the curved sofa arm. The front of her red satin robe gaped open, showing even more of the thin ivory chemise and a good deal of bare flesh. “And I assure you, Mr. Donovan, that there is very little of me that is not entirely female. Should I ever decide to go about proving that point, it would be a most pleasurable experience for you."
    His only reaction was the lifting of one russet brow. A warm, firm hand moved around her back to caress the curve of her buttock. “Care to prove that now?"
    She smiled seductively, leaned closer, and blew in his ear. Then whispered, “No."
    With that, she pulled away, pointing to the door. “Now that you know where I'm staying, there's no need for us to remain in each others’ company. Tomorrow morning will be soon enough to begin our investigation."
    Brandt set his glass on the low table in front of the settee before rising. He smiled regretfully. “You could have experienced something truly amazing tonight,” he told her.
    "I doubt it,” she said, “but you would have seen God."

Chapter Ten

    Several hours after her confrontation with Brandt, Willow stood at the window of her room, overlooking
City
Hall
Park
. Earlier she had seen couples out for an evening stroll. Men and women walking hand in hand, riding in open carriages.
    But with the shadows of darkness came a slight chill to the air, driving people inside to the toasty comfort of their homes. The street was littered with vehicles moving so fast that no one paid much attention to anyone else.
    And certainly no one would notice a hunched and drunken man stumbling along the sidewalk.
    Willow dressed slowly, watching the last orange-purple rays of daylight being swallowed by the black of night.
    Knit cap pulled low to hide her face, she checked her pistol one last time before tucking it into the waistband of her pants. The matching knife pressed reassuringly against her calf inside the worn black boots.
    She slipped a packet of tiny picks and pins into the pocket of her overlarge jacket and started from the room. As she approached the sitting room door, a knock sounded from the hall, followed by Brandt Donovan's cultured drawl.
    A colorful oath passed her lips. The man was becoming an albatross. She could practically feel a length of thick hemp tightening about her neck.
    Mumbling something unintelligible, she raced for the bedroom, tearing off the man's clothing in exchange for her trusty red robe. She pulled the edges close around her neck and returned to answer the door.
    "What do you want?” she charged immediately, fixing him with a scathing glare. His polite gentleman's smile made her queasy.
    He bowed slightly at the waist. “I came to escort you to dinner."
    "You came all the way here to take me to dinner?” she asked.
    "'All the way here’ isn't very far at all.” He cocked his head in the direction of the door opposite hers. “I have the room across the hall."
    Her face screwed up as though she'd been sucking on a lemon. It took all of her short temper to keep from kicking him in the shin. “I'm having my supper brought up,” she lied easily.
    "Nonsense. There's no reason for both of us to eat alone when we can have a pleasant meal in the dining room."
    Pleasant was not the first word that came to mind when she