Read Online Moonspun Magic by Catherine Coulter - Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t let him come into my room and . . .”
    Her voice faded into the wainscoting, and Rafael didn’t push.
    â€œAll right, we’ll leave that for the moment. I gather you have no wish to return to Drago Hall?”
    â€œI will never go back there. Never.”
    â€œWhat about your cousin, Elaine?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Victoria said, lowering her head, her eyes on her clenched hands.
    â€œYou didn’t speak to her, then, about her husband’s behavior toward you?”
    â€œNo, I did not. You see, Elaine is increasing. The baby is due after Christmas. So I really couldn’t upset her, not in her condition. I really didn’t know what to do. I think, however, that she has guessed something. She became more curt toward me.”
    Looking at her, Rafael didn’t doubt it. But still, the thought of a man taking advantage of a young lady under his protection made his stomach turn. Her jaw was stubborn, he saw. She’d refused to stay andbecome a victim. She’d escaped with but twenty pounds. Yes, very stubborn. He admired that.
    â€œHere’s your bath. We will speak some more when you’re finished. I trust you have a dressing gown in that valise?”
    â€œWhy?” she said, looking at him blankly.
    â€œBecause,” Rafael said with exaggerated patience, “I wish to speak to you about what we’re going to do. I have no wish to frighten you again.”
    â€œOh.”
    He nodded and walked to the adjoining door. He said over his shoulder, showing his white teeth in a roguish smile, “I too have a dressing gown.”
    â€œI am exquisitely relieved,” she said, showing her own white teeth. He gave her a mock salute and strode into his bedchamber, closing the adjoining door behind him.
    Victoria didn’t undress until the maid had left. It was more a habit than anything else. Ever since Elaine had seen her leg with its knotting muscles she didn’t want to feel another’s pity or revulsion. She spent fifteen minutes in the hot water, feeling the muscles loosen and relax. She sighed deeply, and leaned back against the copper tub rim. She started up when she heard a light tap on the adjoining door.
    â€œVictoria? Are you ready for me?” Why the devil had he phrased it like that?
    â€œNo,” she called, “not yet.”
    â€œIs your ankle all right?”
    â€œYes, please, I’ll just be a moment.”
    He should have fetched a doctor, Rafael thought, staring at the closed door. But she seemed to have eased during their dinner. He turned back into his room and sat down, waiting. He was tired, weary to his bones. He was a long way from Falmouth and Lindy and a long way to London. A very long way.
    When she called to him, he was half-asleep. Heblinked his eyes and wits awake and went to her. She was seated again in her chair, her nightgown covered by a very prim schoolgirl muslin dressing gown that was tied by a ladder of blue ribbons to her chin.
    â€œHow old are you?” he asked abruptly.
    â€œNearly nineteen. December the fifth.”
    â€œIn that maidenly casing you’re wearing you look like a little girl. Didn’t your cousin, my dear sister-in-law, clothe you properly? Aren’t you to have a Season? Meet gentlemen, attend endless balls, and all that?”
    â€œNo, and I didn’t expect to,” she said with no regret that he could detect. “You see, I thought I was the poor relation until I just happened to see—”
    Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d given away. She ducked her head down, color rising on her cheeks. Stupid fool.
    Rafael sighed. Trust, he supposed, was an elusive sort of thing. Not given lightly. And after all, he was the spitting image of his brother.
    He let the fish gently off the hook. “You said you are going to London.”
    She nodded, mute.
    â€œYou said you had business there. Relatives