London's Most Wanted Rake by Bronwyn Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

taking it, he used it to tug her to him. His hands rested at her waist. When he spoke again the edge was gone from his voice. ‘Since I’ve known you, you’ve never let anyone help you. You rush your fences and not always for the best. There’s a difference between taking decisive action and being impulsive. You’re rushing your fences now with Seymour. I think you’re missing the potential consequences. It will not look good if you are too forward with him. You know what people will say.’
    He meant the gossips—anyone looking for her to behave inappropriately would say she was throwing herself at Seymour. She knew Channing was right. She’d thought the same thing herself. It was why she’d decided to bring Amery to the house party. But the risk of Channing becoming too involved had outweighed her need for caution.
    Alina shook her head. This was how he’d got to her the last time, pretending all this concern. ‘Don’t do this, Channing. One minute you’re castigating me for a little flirtation, the next you’re my sincere adviser. I have hired you to be neither.’ She tried to step away, but he held her fast. ‘The truth is, I’d rather not have you involved in this business I have with Seymour. You and I aren’t good together.’
    ‘Except in bed,’ came Channing’s answer, ‘and Lady Medford’s gardens, the Duke of Grafton’s library, that little closet in Lady Stanhope’s town house—do you remember the one, it was at the end of the hall on the second floor?’
    ‘Except in bed,’ she echoed, refusing to be goaded. He was simply mirroring her technique from last night of mixing business with reminders of pleasure, reminders of a time when she’d thought he was more than a hired escort. She held his hot eyes, letting his gaze burn her. What was in the past needed to stay there except for the lessons it had taught her.
    ‘I’m afraid, in this case, it won’t be enough.’ She had to be firm here or she’d regret it. She could not afford to let those lines blur again. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back and change out of these clothes.’
    ‘No, you don’t.’ A smile played across Channing’s mouth. ‘I had a spare outfit sent ahead to the picnic.’
    ‘When did you do that?’ The gesture touched her unexpectedly, but she couldn’t think of when he’d have had time to do it. He’d been in the drive with everyone else long before she’d arrived.
    ‘Do you remember that I had something to do before I could leave this morning?’ Channing was grinning now as he boosted her into the saddle. He swung into his own and winked. ‘I suspected you might be over-horsed.’
    ‘I was not over-horsed,’ Alina protested. But yes, she recalled he’d mentioned something about an errand. She remembered it just as clearly as she remembered that closet at Lady Stanhope’s.

Chapter Five
    C hanning was as good as his word. By the time Alina sat down at the tables for cards after dinner, all was in order. Channing had arranged to partner her while they played against Roland Seymour and a Mrs White from Richmond. It was the most subtle of organisations from which natural conversation and association could grow. She couldn’t have asked for a better opening. Seymour would have no reason to be suspicious of her motives.
    But that didn’t make sitting down next to such a man any easier. It galled her that she had to sit there, concentrating on cards, laughing and pretending to have a good time, while all she wanted to do was strangle him, or call him out and expose him to the present company for the fraud he was. Strangling was unfortunately against the law. She wasn’t sure about ball-ripping though, there might be some potential there. Either way, torture would have to wait. She didn’t have the proof she needed, not yet. But she would soon. The house party was just the beginning of what she intended for Mr Roland Seymour, deceiver of widows and unsuspecting families. Under the