Edith Layton by How to Seduce a Bride Read Free Book Online Page B

good man under all his affectation,” the earl went on, “which is why I like to spend time with him, as do my sons.”
    “Doesn’t living with him become trying, though?”
    “Living with him?” The earl laughed. “Daisy, the fellow runs tame at my house, but he doesn’t live there!”
    “Oh,” she said, and beamed her vast relief at him.
    “So, shall we?” he asked, smiling down at her in turn as he offered her his arm.
    “Thank you, yes,” she said, taking his arm and looking up at him as though he’d presented her with a gift, and so not noticing that the viscount was now watching them, or the slight concerned frown he wore as he did.

Chapter 4
    “Y ou haven’t come to see me in too long, my lord,” the woman said dramatically. “At last, in far too long a time for me. I must know, so I can try to go on. Have you found another?”
    She lay back on the couch, her filmy gown in artful disarray, one knee bent, her skirts rucked up to show her long legs. Her long dark hair was the only thing covering her shapely naked breasts.
    “I seem to recall you said those exact lines the night I met you,” Leland answered, eyeing her with a smile.
    She looked puzzled.
    “You were in The Lady’s Surprise that night. Thesupporting role, too,” he added, “and you were very good.”
    She was diverted. “Yes, I was. Fancy you remembering that! And not even at the Haymarket, but at that little theater in Brighton. You never said! Is that why you looked me up when I came to London?”
    “No. In London, I looked up at the stage, saw you again, and knew Fate had been kind,” he said, his hand on his heart.
    “Aye, well,” she said, sitting up. “It was a good line, and it applies now though, don’t it? You’re done with me, are you?”
    He shrugged. “Not ‘done,’ surely. That sounds so fatal, so culinary. But yes, our time together is ended, I fear. Come, I haven’t hurt you in any way. It was a brief but lucrative fling for you, wasn’t it?”
    She grinned. “Aye, that it was. But for all that, the truth is that I liked being with you. At first I didn’t know what to expect, because you act so fancy. But you’re funny, and fun to be with, and clean, too. And you know your way about a girl, in every way, don’t you? Some gents are a trial, and some are just rude pigs, but you made sure to give as much as you got, and I’m grateful for it. I know a likely lad or two willing to keep me company when I’m not working, so I like meeting a gent I can imagine might be one of them. Combines business with pleasure, so to speak, but it’s rare. So thanks.”
    He smiled. She’d never said so much at one time before, and her new, less theatrical personality was charming. It was too bad she’d decided to be herself with him only when he’d decided to be rid of her. But her few weeks were up. He never kept a mistress longer. It became too hard to forget he was paying for her company. That was why he didn’t visit brothels, either.
    But he did so enjoy sex with a warm, willing partner. There was nothing like the feeling of a female body pressed to his own, nothing to make him feel more connected to another being, and not just in body. Ecstasy was the goal, but so was the feeling, for a few minutes, that he was no longer alone, that he was part of something more.
    He had few acceptable outlets for such intimacy. Though he loved the act, he was fastidious. A stupid woman with a magnificent body attracted him no more than a fine-looking filly might. He didn’t desire a healthy animal; his partner had to have brains as well as beauty. If a woman was educated, he was willing to settle for less beauty. But most educated women were of his own class, and they weren’t available to him. He wouldn’t conduct affairs with married women, as so many men of his rank did. Nor could he with his social inferiors, however smart or beautiful they might be. They needed marrying, it was only fair, and he always tried to be a