A Little Bit Scandalous by Robyn DeHart Read Free Book Online Page A

common question, common information shared? What should she say? She thought she could easily pass for a boy of twenty. How many women should a man of twenty have bedded? She had no notion of the appropriate range. One? Four? Four seemed an awful lot for a boy of twenty.
    She looked back at her cards, still a six and a four. She dealt herself another card, a ten. “I don’t believe that’s necessary,” she said in hopes he’d drop the subject.
    Roe nodded knowingly. “Ah, I see, you are still a virgin.” He gave her a smirk.
    “That is not what I said.” Arguing with him made no sense. There was no need to defend Mr. Grey, he did not exist, so it mattered not how many women he would have bedded.
    “But your refusal to answer the question is answer enough.”
    “Faulty logic,” Caroline said, careful to lower the tone of her voice. She should make an excuse and get the hell out of there before her disguise was destroyed.
    “You’re being evasive,” he said, looking up at her face, but she refused to meet his gaze. “And you’re blushing.”
    She pushed back her chair and stood. “I should be going now.”
    He stood also. He was between her and the door in seconds, moving faster than she would have thought possible for a man of his size. “But we’ve barely begun playing.”
    There was a double meaning in his voice. Panic pulsed through her veins, but she pushed it aside. Had he seen through her disguise? He couldn’t know who she was, because that would most certainly mean the end of her charade and she still had money to earn.
    “I was …” God, had she forgotten to drop her voice? She edged back a step. “I have to leave.”
    He followed her back one step, then another. He grasped her chin in his hand and for one heart-wrenching moment , she had the absurd impression he was going to kiss her. But then he stopped. “Even if you clean chimneys, you could wash your face.” His gaze narrowed as he searched her face. “First, we need to settle up. I believe after this last hand, you owe me something.”
    She jerked her head up and looked at him square in the face. “I owe you nothing.” Damnation, she’d forgotten to disguise her voice.
    His eyes widened, then narrowed in on her face. He took a step away from her, scrubbing his hand down his face. She knew in that moment that he recognized her.
    “Son of a bitch!” he said. “Caroline Jellico!”
    The game was up and she had no one to blame but herself. She blew out a breath. “Hello, Monroe,” she said, allowing her voice to return to normal. “So, you didn’t know it was me until just this moment?”
    “No. I knew you were a woman, but I had no notion it was you.”
    “My voice?”
    “I suppose. All of it together. Standing this close to you, your eyes. Damnation! What the hell are you doing in London?” He turned and pointed at her. “And what are you doing playing at Rodale’s?”
    “Playing cards, the same as you,” she said with an indifferent shrug.
    “But you’re a woman.”
    “Precisely the reason I’m in disguise.” She tore the hat off her head and scratched at the back of her neck. Her hair tumbled down around her shoulders and she gave her head a little shake, relieved to have her hair released. Then she realized he was staring and she stilled, unsettled beneath the weight of his gaze. She wasn’t used to being looked at, not like that.
    “No one else has noticed I’m not a man,” she said quietly.
    “You don’t know that.”
    She frowned. “Of course I do. Otherwise someone would have called me on it. Had me removed.” Or worse, but she didn’t allow herself to think about that. “If you knew I was a woman, why did you invite me here tonight to play cards?”
    “I wanted to expose you, frighten you. A gaming hell is no place for a woman. Men there will treat you no differently than they would Reggie.”
    He was right, of course, she knew that.
    “Does Justin know?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “What