Read Online The Sins of Lord Easterbrook by Madeline Hunter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Madeline Hunter
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arched around her.
“You are nervous, being alone with me,” he observed. “There is no reason to be afraid.”
“No? You declared your intentions explicitly when we met in your house, and they are not honorable. Now you are proposing things that are intended to lure me.”
“Does that matter so much? Whether they are honorable or not?”
“Of course it matters. A marquess may sin with frequency and impunity, but I am not so privileged.”
“As a woman of the world you know that these arrangements are so normal and so accepted in every society that calling it a sin is a joke. If I am luring you, it is to more than a casual seduction, in case you do not understand that.”
“I have lived in China. I know what a concubine is. An English mistress does not have even that security. Iwas not born or raised for what you offer, no matter how comfortable and lucrative the situation may temporarily prove to be.”
She spoke with more determination than she felt, and not only because he made her stupid heart jump the way he always had. As Easterbrook's mistress she might accomplish all that she had come to do here in London, and in very little time.
Even if he tried to thwart her, even if her worst suspicions about him were correct, she would be better placed to learn it all if she were in his house and his bed. She might even find that notebook if she could move freely in his home.
Her own ruthless calculations shocked her. But the insidious arousal that he inspired urged her to grab the excuse.
She trusted that he had heard the finality in her voice. She assumed that he would take his leave.
He did not. Instead he contemplated her with that direct examination, much as he had during their last meeting.
“Why did you not marry? I do not believe Pedro ended the engagement as you said.”
“Oh, he ended it. Thoroughly.” The sudden turn in topic vexed her. He had a talent for throwing her off balance.
“But you did not mind so much. Just as you do not mind my lures so much now.”
Her temper cracked like a whip. “How dare you presume to know my mind? Now or then? I was a young woman alone, orphaned, with no fortune and nosecurity, and I was not so stupid as to ignore that Pedro offered both.”
“That is not the same thing as wanting to marry him. It may have frightened you to be left to your own devices, but you were not heartbroken to be free of him.”
“You are an insufferably arrogant, conceited man. You think that your birth gives you the power to read the hearts of others like a god. My father taught me the value of pride, but my mother taught me about the sins it breeds, and your presumption of omniscience is close to blasphemous.”
“I do not claim to know your mind. Your story does not ring true, that is all. Pedro might have ended the engagement because of your father's failing business. However, he could not use that excuse because that would not be enough reason to end it with honor.”
She could barely maintain her composure, and she proved incapable of holding her polite stance. She paced out her growing anger, back and forth, in strides too long and fast.
He had no right to pick and probe at this. He had no right to interfere with the past as well as the present, and demand answers from her as if he had a divine right to hear them.
“How wasteful that you have turned your brilliant mind to my story, Lord Easterbrook. Surely there are more pressing matters to occupy you. Of course, you are correct. Pedro did not admit the true reason. He found a better one to give the world. If you must know, that reason was
you.
He accused me of more than a silly flirtation, and he was believed.”
Christian watched her furious words pour out. Hecocked his head and made a small frown. “Pedro had no proof, however. There was none to have.”
“Do you think anyone cared, after they heard his tale? Do you think he was so stupid that he could not tell that
something
had happened between us? Do you
“You are nervous, being alone with me,” he observed. “There is no reason to be afraid.”
“No? You declared your intentions explicitly when we met in your house, and they are not honorable. Now you are proposing things that are intended to lure me.”
“Does that matter so much? Whether they are honorable or not?”
“Of course it matters. A marquess may sin with frequency and impunity, but I am not so privileged.”
“As a woman of the world you know that these arrangements are so normal and so accepted in every society that calling it a sin is a joke. If I am luring you, it is to more than a casual seduction, in case you do not understand that.”
“I have lived in China. I know what a concubine is. An English mistress does not have even that security. Iwas not born or raised for what you offer, no matter how comfortable and lucrative the situation may temporarily prove to be.”
She spoke with more determination than she felt, and not only because he made her stupid heart jump the way he always had. As Easterbrook's mistress she might accomplish all that she had come to do here in London, and in very little time.
Even if he tried to thwart her, even if her worst suspicions about him were correct, she would be better placed to learn it all if she were in his house and his bed. She might even find that notebook if she could move freely in his home.
Her own ruthless calculations shocked her. But the insidious arousal that he inspired urged her to grab the excuse.
She trusted that he had heard the finality in her voice. She assumed that he would take his leave.
He did not. Instead he contemplated her with that direct examination, much as he had during their last meeting.
“Why did you not marry? I do not believe Pedro ended the engagement as you said.”
“Oh, he ended it. Thoroughly.” The sudden turn in topic vexed her. He had a talent for throwing her off balance.
“But you did not mind so much. Just as you do not mind my lures so much now.”
Her temper cracked like a whip. “How dare you presume to know my mind? Now or then? I was a young woman alone, orphaned, with no fortune and nosecurity, and I was not so stupid as to ignore that Pedro offered both.”
“That is not the same thing as wanting to marry him. It may have frightened you to be left to your own devices, but you were not heartbroken to be free of him.”
“You are an insufferably arrogant, conceited man. You think that your birth gives you the power to read the hearts of others like a god. My father taught me the value of pride, but my mother taught me about the sins it breeds, and your presumption of omniscience is close to blasphemous.”
“I do not claim to know your mind. Your story does not ring true, that is all. Pedro might have ended the engagement because of your father's failing business. However, he could not use that excuse because that would not be enough reason to end it with honor.”
She could barely maintain her composure, and she proved incapable of holding her polite stance. She paced out her growing anger, back and forth, in strides too long and fast.
He had no right to pick and probe at this. He had no right to interfere with the past as well as the present, and demand answers from her as if he had a divine right to hear them.
“How wasteful that you have turned your brilliant mind to my story, Lord Easterbrook. Surely there are more pressing matters to occupy you. Of course, you are correct. Pedro did not admit the true reason. He found a better one to give the world. If you must know, that reason was
you.
He accused me of more than a silly flirtation, and he was believed.”
Christian watched her furious words pour out. Hecocked his head and made a small frown. “Pedro had no proof, however. There was none to have.”
“Do you think anyone cared, after they heard his tale? Do you think he was so stupid that he could not tell that
something
had happened between us? Do you
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