His Lordship Possessed by Lynn Viehl Read Free Book Online

make useful
    suggestions.”
    “Rina.” I waited until she looked at me. “Wrecker will
    do no such thing.”
    “But after what old blueballs did to you—”
    “No killing, no torture,” I told her fl atly. “Th e same
    goes for Dredmore. He saved my life.” I set down the cup
    before rising and reaching for my cloak.
    She positioned herself in front of the door. “You’re
    not going back out there.”
    “I have to.” Even if I had nowhere else to go. “If
    Walsh learns that I’m here, he’ll come after you and your
    gels.”
    “Oh, please, God.” Her smile was a dreadful thing to
    behold. “Let him.”
    “Let him do things to you that make my misfortunes
    look like a spring stroll down the prommy?” I shook my
    head.
    “Th en we’ll call on Bridget’s Charles. He’ll squash
    Walsh like a gnat.” She went to her desk. “I’ll have him
    come round and you can tell him—”
    “Carina. Stop.” I joined her at the desk and took the
    pen and foolscap out of her hands. “Just stop now. It’s
    done. It can’t be undone, none of it.”
    Tears fi lled her eyes. “Do you even know what you
    look like, Kit? You’re as white as bone. Th ere are marks
    on your wrists from the shackles and glass all over your
    45
    Viehl_DisenchantedP2_EG.indd 45
    7/15/13 10:25 AM
    LYNN VIEHL
    bodice. You’re shaking.” She held out trembling hands.
    “God blind me. I’m shaking.”
    “We’re angry, and hurt, and frightened.” I touched
    her cheek. “But one thing we’re not, the one thing we
    will never be, is daft. We need to take some time now to
    think and to plan.” I put my reticule in her hands. “Th is
    is every pence I have left in the world. I need you to hold
    it safe for me.”
    “You’re staying here.”
    “I can’t risk—”
    “Shut up. I needed a new gel—and so I hired one.”
    She tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Name
    of Connie. A bit dark and on the skinny side, but some
    gents like that.”
    I sighed. “Walsh knows my middle name.”
    “Th en Rosie, or Lucy, or . . .“ She stopped and
    suddenly smiled. “Prudence.”
    46
    Viehl_DisenchantedP2_EG.indd 46
    7/15/13 10:25 AM
    Disench anted & Co., Part 1

Chapter Four
    “If I like the looks of someone, can I give him a free one?”
    I asked my new employer, and then hissed as a hairpin
    dug into my scalp. “You’re hurting!”
    “You’re not selling or bartering or giving anything
    to anyone under my roof,” Rina told my refl ection. She
    pinned the new switch in several more places. “You’re a
    good gel, and you’re going to stay that way.”
    I tucked my bottom lip under my top teeth to keep
    from correcting her.
    “Don’t do that, you’ll scrape off the tint.” She sprayed
    my switch with a light mist of her perfume and stepped
    back. “You make a pretty hothead.”
    I studied my refl ection in Rina’s vanity glass, turning
    my head this way and that. Th e elegant scarlet curls of the expensive hair switch should have made my tanned skin
    appear yellow, but instead they brought out the pinkish
    tones and gave me a rosy look.
    “Bridget has freckles,” I mentioned. “I always wanted
    freckles.”
    “You always wanted to be a man, a fi rebrigader, a
    pilot, and seven feet tall. Let us be grateful that heaven
    has remained stone-deaf to your prayers.” She went to her
    working-hours armoire. “Take off everything, including
    your drawers.”
    I didn’t mind the switch or the lip tint, but I couldn’t
    47
    Viehl_DisenchantedP2_EG.indd 47
    7/15/13 10:25 AM
    LYNN VIEHL
    imagine myself parading about in one of Rina’s fi lmy
    business garms. “Couldn’t I be Prudence the new scullery,
    or Prudence the apprentice cook?”
    She began pushing hangers back and forth as she
    searched through a rainbow of cut-out velvets, thin silks,
    and spangled nettings. “He’ll be expecting that.”
    I got up and joined her. “But my posing as a working
    strumpet would be a complete stunner.”
    “You may stir up