Read Online One Night With a Spy by Celeste Bradley - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Celeste Bradley
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them to fall about my hair and shoulders like ruby-red snow. "Perhaps you are right. It would not do to compare them without further investigation
— "
He grabs my hand and we run for the ruined Roman temple at the back of the garden. He pulls me through one of the arched windows, lifting me easily. Then I see that he has covered the floor of the tiny temple with rose petals of all colors. He lays me down upon them. "My goddess," he whispers. "My Artemis, my golden huntress."
"My Adonis," I reply with a smile. "Now, enough with the pet names. You have important research to conduct."
He laughs and throws petals in my face. "Then shut up and let a man work."
I close my eyes and let him do just that…
Julia opened her eyes to the dimness of early morning in her bedchamber, then sighed in frustration. She could not seem to break the habit of predawn rising.
There wasn't a sound from the house and only the palest of morning light crept past the draperies. She could sleep for hours yet, if her habits allowed it.
Once these had been the hours she'd spent at Aldus's side, reading the reports aloud to him and discussing her opinions on every one. After he'd first collapsed, that had been his best time of day, before the confusion and mind-wandering would steal his attention.
He'd been unable to speak, but she'd seen the understanding in his eyes, and he'd been able to signal her with small hand motions… at least for a time.
By the end, he'd been slipping away from her for so long that she knew he no longer heard her, but still she had sat there every morning, setting her own mind in order and feeling as though somewhere, somehow, he was listening.
She drew a deep breath, feeling the void in her heart. There was no one to speak to now and for the first time she realized the true lot of the Fox. No one else could share the burden and the knowledge that a member of the Royal Four held close. No trusted servant, no companion, no family member could ever know.
No wonder each member kept an apprentice! Otherwise one would go mad from the isolation of it!
Julia felt twitchy with restlessness. For some reason, her thoughts kept returning to those diaries she'd kept years ago. Honestly, she'd thought she'd banished that portion of herself quite thoroughly!
It was all Mr. Blythe-Goodman's fault. He made a woman think of hard hands and urgent heat. And those eyes, darkening like night in the forest when he looked at her… perilous night in a dangerous forest.
Aldus had touched her as if she were about to break from his handling. How could she have told him that she wanted more, that she longed to
feel
a man's hands on her?
She was not like the fragile ivory carvings from China that Aldus had compared her to. Pain was simply something she'd lived with all her life, from hard work if nothing else.
This world, the luxurious realm of Lady Barrowby, was only part of the mask she'd donned upon her marriage.
She'd spent her childhood in the rough-and-tumble world of the traveling fair folk. They were a loud, boisterous lot, prone to fits of arrogance and temper and just as prone to acts of astounding generosity and good humor.
Her life had been colorful and mostly unkempt, except for when her more subdued mother had managed to pin her down long enough for a bath and combing.
Now she was a lady, just as her mother had dreamed for her. Those dusty wild days were nothing but fading memory. Only Julia's resilient nature remained the same.
So there was nothing Aldus could have done to cause her more than the most momentary discomfort, yet he had insisted on treating her as if his intrusion were more than mortal woman should be forced to bear.
The gentlemen who called on her now were much the same, treating her as if she might blow away if they spoke too forcefully, as if she might collapse beneath the pressure of their slightest touch.
Gentlemen were bloomin' annoying that way.
Of course, Elliot might be open to a bit of
— "
He grabs my hand and we run for the ruined Roman temple at the back of the garden. He pulls me through one of the arched windows, lifting me easily. Then I see that he has covered the floor of the tiny temple with rose petals of all colors. He lays me down upon them. "My goddess," he whispers. "My Artemis, my golden huntress."
"My Adonis," I reply with a smile. "Now, enough with the pet names. You have important research to conduct."
He laughs and throws petals in my face. "Then shut up and let a man work."
I close my eyes and let him do just that…
Julia opened her eyes to the dimness of early morning in her bedchamber, then sighed in frustration. She could not seem to break the habit of predawn rising.
There wasn't a sound from the house and only the palest of morning light crept past the draperies. She could sleep for hours yet, if her habits allowed it.
Once these had been the hours she'd spent at Aldus's side, reading the reports aloud to him and discussing her opinions on every one. After he'd first collapsed, that had been his best time of day, before the confusion and mind-wandering would steal his attention.
He'd been unable to speak, but she'd seen the understanding in his eyes, and he'd been able to signal her with small hand motions… at least for a time.
By the end, he'd been slipping away from her for so long that she knew he no longer heard her, but still she had sat there every morning, setting her own mind in order and feeling as though somewhere, somehow, he was listening.
She drew a deep breath, feeling the void in her heart. There was no one to speak to now and for the first time she realized the true lot of the Fox. No one else could share the burden and the knowledge that a member of the Royal Four held close. No trusted servant, no companion, no family member could ever know.
No wonder each member kept an apprentice! Otherwise one would go mad from the isolation of it!
Julia felt twitchy with restlessness. For some reason, her thoughts kept returning to those diaries she'd kept years ago. Honestly, she'd thought she'd banished that portion of herself quite thoroughly!
It was all Mr. Blythe-Goodman's fault. He made a woman think of hard hands and urgent heat. And those eyes, darkening like night in the forest when he looked at her… perilous night in a dangerous forest.
Aldus had touched her as if she were about to break from his handling. How could she have told him that she wanted more, that she longed to
feel
a man's hands on her?
She was not like the fragile ivory carvings from China that Aldus had compared her to. Pain was simply something she'd lived with all her life, from hard work if nothing else.
This world, the luxurious realm of Lady Barrowby, was only part of the mask she'd donned upon her marriage.
She'd spent her childhood in the rough-and-tumble world of the traveling fair folk. They were a loud, boisterous lot, prone to fits of arrogance and temper and just as prone to acts of astounding generosity and good humor.
Her life had been colorful and mostly unkempt, except for when her more subdued mother had managed to pin her down long enough for a bath and combing.
Now she was a lady, just as her mother had dreamed for her. Those dusty wild days were nothing but fading memory. Only Julia's resilient nature remained the same.
So there was nothing Aldus could have done to cause her more than the most momentary discomfort, yet he had insisted on treating her as if his intrusion were more than mortal woman should be forced to bear.
The gentlemen who called on her now were much the same, treating her as if she might blow away if they spoke too forcefully, as if she might collapse beneath the pressure of their slightest touch.
Gentlemen were bloomin' annoying that way.
Of course, Elliot might be open to a bit of
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