From Lies by Ann Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

high-ranking merchant if he believed himself capable of having his way after a few pretty words. "I'm not sure that would be wise."
    "Ah, you are to be wed?"
    "No." Rafe laughed at the mere idea. No one would want him, not after the coming days.
    "Oh?" His partner drew him in close, and that dream from so long ago came back to Rafe. The dance he'd shared with a stranger of his mind, how they'd drawn close, too close.
    Rafe pulled back a little. "I'm thinking of traveling, and I don't know when I might return."
    "Not even for your sister's wedding?"
    Rafe stumbled at the innocent question, staring wide-eyed at the man before him. "What?"
    "Ah, forgive me. My tongue runs away from me at times." His partner looked contrite, but Rafe still wanted to know what he meant. It must have shown on his face. "I saw the way Lord Shaften looked at your sister, and she him. When you were dancing with the children I inquired after her, and Henry mentioned we might be hearing wedding bells soon. Was it meant to be a secret?"
    Rafe shook his head, looking around to see if he couldn't spot his mother. Hopefully she wouldn't have heard such a rumor. It might derail his plans. "We haven't had a chance to write up a marriage contract."
    "Marriage contract?" His partner's brow furrowed. "Why would you want one of those?"
    Nerves began to tingle beneath his skin, instinct warning him from speaking, but he felt silence would somehow damn him. "It is because I am newly the head of our family, and I fear our mother would not approve, so a marriage contract would have more sway in the present environment than words between gentlemen."
    "Ah." His partner nodded his head. "I understand. If you are in need of assistance, please ask."
    "Are you a lawyer?" Rafe hadn't thought of that, though it might explain the apparent self-import the man placed on himself.
    His partner chuckled as he twirled Rafe into a complicated series of steps. "Something like that."
    Rafe didn't understand, but he needed to concentrate on his footwork and not what the man before him meant. He could decide on the meaning of the words later. Maybe when he was back home in bed and sleep eluded him. As the song ended, Rafe made to pull away, but his partner held him fast, giving him a cheeky grin as he led him into the next dance.
    "Now, I've been curious."
    Rafe lifted an eyebrow, waiting for more. "Yes?"
    "Why is it that someone as beautiful as you doesn't have men and women throwing themselves at your feet?"
    He was pulled in close as they swirled past a slow moving couple. After the steps slowed, his partner continued to stare, waiting for an answer. Only, Rafe didn't know what to say. He shrugged his shoulders.
    "Come on, there must be a reason. Do you snore?"
    Rafe chuckled. "I wouldn't know. No one has shared my room since I was a small boy."
    "Are you a night walker?" his partner teased.
    Rafe thought about it. He guessed he could be called such. "Sometimes."
    "Well," his partner huffed, "there must be something."
    With a shake of his head, Rafe turned the tables, taking over the lead of the dance as he took his partner through a series of steps that drew them apart and pulled them together.
    "It can't be your dancing. That's superb."
    "Maybe it's because I'm not a nice man," Rafe quipped, regretting it as soon as the words left his mouth.
    "How so?"
    No words would form, and he couldn't look the man before him in the eyes. They slowed, moving to the edge of the floor even though Rafe just wanted to go back to the center, to the playful banter from before.
    "How so?" The words were soft, a torture so exquisite as they promised to release Rafe from his years of burden.
    How could he resist?
    "I manipulate others. I lie. I hide myself so no one can see." He couldn't look up, could only move to the slow pace they'd set themselves. Rafe wanted to pull away, but he found himself lacking the strength to do so.
    "As you manipulated Lord Shaften and your sister? I believe that's more a