Read Online Enticing the Spymaster (War Girls) by Julie Rowe - Free Book Online

question.”
    “Why would it be out of the question? I’m sure you’ve had several offers for your hand.”
    “None I could accept.”
    “Why not?”
    She rolled her eyes as if he were a young boy of limited intelligence. “My husband would have to be a man whose honour is above reproach, who could be trusted in a position of authority in possibly two countries. Who could be trusted with information from either government. You know my father’s unofficial position as royal advisor and my mother’s proximity to the Belgian crown. Most of my potential suitors simply didn’t make the cut.”
    Regret turned his tongue bitter. “Just as I didn’t.”
    “I found you to be...perfectly acceptable.”
    “What about your family? Your father? Did they think a man with a profession as dangerous as mine, a man who’s rarely in England for more than a week at a time, a man trained to lie, deceive and kill was acceptable as a husband?”
    “You lie, deceive and kill because your sense of duty is so strong. You’re willing to sacrifice everything for your country. In my mind, that makes you— made you the only man for me. Or so I thought. You corrected that assumption.”
    So passionate. Could it be that no one else had seen it? Desired it, her enough to fight for her? “I find it astonishing that your parents couldn’t arrange a suitable marriage for you.”
    “They suggested two or three possibilities. All eventually withdrew.”
    “You mean to say they retracted their offers?” With her family’s position of prominence he could hardly believe a good man—the perfect man—hadn’t stepped forward.
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    Her cheeks turned a rosy red, but she didn’t answer.
    “Why, Jude?”
    “I didn’t want to marry any of them. They were politically suitable, but as potential husbands? No.”
    “What could possibly remove a man from your consideration who’d already met with your parent’s approval?”
    She lifted one hand and began ticking off reasons like a list of unpleasant tasks. “Too many mistresses. Snores loud enough to wake the dead. Believes all women are stupid and their only functions are to have babies and host parties—”
    “Wait. Too many mistresses? ”
    “I made inquiries.”
    “Of whom?”
    “Of family and intimate friends, of course. I questioned them carefully, disguised as conversation.”
    “Relatives told you about snoring and mistresses?”
    “Well, no, not relatives.” She blushed again. “But others who knew them very well.”
    “Others?” Her cheeks kept getting redder and redder, and she wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Good God, you talked to their mistresses, didn’t you?”
    She shrugged. “Not all of them had anything so formal as a mistress. One used the same prostitute regularly.”
    “You conversed with a prostitute? ”
    * * *
    He looked as if he were about to have a fit. His cheeks were stung with red.
    “I most certainly did.”
    Her answer only seemed to befuddle him further. “ Why? ”
    “A wise woman makes discreet inquiries into her prospective husband’s life to ensure she’s not tying herself to someone unworthy.”
    “Where did you learn that? Certainly not from your mother.”
    “Of course I learnt it from my mother. She’s intelligent and careful. She made the same investigation into my father’s character before she married him. He didn’t know, but that’s neither here nor there.”
    His expression turned thoughtful. “Did you...”
    “Did I ask about you? Yes, but not until after your rejection. I happened to meet Mrs. Emily Bancroft while shopping one afternoon. A lovely woman. It’s sad that her husband passed away only a year into their marriage, but she seemed content with her circumstances.”
    His jaw now hung as if no longer hinged. “How did you find out she was my...”
    “Mistress? I asked Mother if she knew—and she did.”
    His teeth snapped together. “Your mother is a menace.”
    “Why on earth did you