Lady Folbroke's Delicious Deception by Christine Merrill Read Free Book Online

had felt in the tavern, and the desire to be closer still. And the feeling that she had felt often, over the last few years: that something was missing from her well-ordered life—and that, perhaps, it was Adrian Longesley.
    Then she ended the kiss and turned to leave.
    ‘Wait.’ He caught her wrist.
    ‘I must go.’
    ‘You cannot. Not after that.’
    She gave a little laugh. ‘Neither can I stay.’
    ‘Meet me again.’ He ran his other hand through his hair in exasperation and his words were hurried, as though he was trying to think of anything that might tempt her to stay. ‘So that I might assure myself of your safety, when I am not indisposed.’ His smile was back again. ‘You will like me better when I have had time to wash, dress and shave.’
    ‘Will I have to go to a brothel to find you? Or merely a gaming hell?’ She shook her head, and remembered that he would not see her refusal, then said, ‘I think not.’
    ‘Why not here? Tomorrow morning.’
    ‘You expect me to come to a man’s rooms, in daylight and unescorted.’
    His face fell. ‘Your reputation. I had forgotten.’
    ‘Thank you very much for your belated concern.’
    He winced as though it were a physical effort to stumble through the courtesies she deserved. ‘If there were somewhere that we could talk, in privacy and discretion …’
    Emily sighed, as though she were not sure of the wisdom of her actions and then let herself be persuaded. ‘I will send you a letter, and you will come to me when it is convenient.’
    He released her hand, letting his fingers drag down the length of it until he touched only her fingertips. ‘I look forward to your communication.’
    She was glad that he could not clearly see her. Had he not been blind, he would know that her cheeks were crimson and that the expression on her face was not the sly smile of a courtesan, but goggle-eyed amazement. Her husband looked forward to meeting with
her.
Before she could spoil the moment by saying something inappropriate, she turned and left.
    It was not until she was in the carriage, on the way back to her brother’s town house, that she allowed herself to collapse, then glared across the coach at Hendricks. ‘How long have you known?’
    ‘From the first. It came on gradually, after we leftPortugal. He insisted that I tell you nothing. And although you and I have had reason to work together, he is, first and foremost, my employer. I must obey his wishes before yours.’
    ‘I see.’ Therefore, Hendricks was not to be trusted. She felt a cold chill at the loss of one she had trusted almost as a brother since the day she’d married Adrian. But if he could keep hidden a fact this momentous, then there was no telling what other secrets he’d hidden from her. ‘So you meant to take the man’s pay and allow him to destroy himself, when a word to me might have prevented it?’
    Hendricks was embarrassed almost to the point of pain. ‘I did not think it my place.’
    ‘Then you had best reassess your position.’ She took the stern, almost manly tone she used with him to indicate that she spoke for her husband and that disobedience was out of the question.
    ‘Of course, my lady.’
    She had cowed him, and it made her feel better, more in control than she had since the moment she had realised that she must see Adrian again.
    But on the inside, she was unsure whether to laugh or to cry. It had finally happened, just as she’d dreamed of it, since she was a girl. Tonight, the man she loved had looked at her with desire, hung upon her every word and clung to her fingertips as though parting with her was an agony.
    Of course, he was drunk, blind and did not know who she was. And the whole thing had happened solong after it should have that the point was moot. It had been nothing more than a girlish fantasy to have the dashing Earl of Folbroke dote on her like a love-struck fool. But then, she had thought that wedding him would mean something other than the sterile