No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper Read Free Book Online Page A

Particularly one who saved my life not a day ago? The worst cad in the world would feel some obligation under the circumstances, and I hope I’m not that.”
    He’d stepped closer to her as he talked. Joan could feel the heat of his body now and catch a pleasantly spicy smell that was maybe his soap, maybe just him. “That wasn’t a favor,” she said, snapping her mind back to the conversation. “I wasn’t going to stand there and watch you get killed, that’s all. And they would’ve killed me too, afterward.”
    “Nonetheless, the point stands,” said Simon. “Think of it as outfitting the troops, if that’s easier for you. We’re in this together, after all.”
    Hearing it that way did help. She wondered how well Simon had known that, and she smiled up at him without thinking about it. “Thanks,” she said, not just meaning the clothes.
    “Quite welcome,” he said, and flashed an unexpected smile of his own. “Now please go back to your room. This isn’t the time for me to lurk in hallways with half-dressed women.”
    ***
    Joan had thought that the rope was decoration, but when she pulled it, she did hear a bell somewhere in the wall. Satisfied and a little bored, she wandered over to the drapes and pulled them back.
    Outside were blue and green and gold.
    Sometime during the night, the rain had stopped and the clouds had rolled back. Now sunlight flooded down onto a mile of green grass. From the window, it looked almost as soft as the carpet. Darker trees bordered the lawn, and off to the west, Joan saw the edge of the forest that she and Simon had come from. To the east were a dozen slate roofs, smoke spiraling up from the chimney on each one. Joan watched the smoke rise into the sky.
    After a minute, she thought what she always did, that she was wasting time. She had better things to do. This wasn’t a pleasure trip. Good, sound thoughts, these; they’d kept her alive and gotten her here.
    For the first time in ten years, Joan rose up against them.
    For the first time in ten years, she had time to waste.
    After years of preparation, days of ceremony, and those few frenzied hours before the passage, Joan was where she needed to be. Now she had no need to hurry. She’d never been a visionary, but she had the calm knowledge of a warrior and a hunter, and it said wait .
    This was a beginning. If she watched and waited, this place would give her an opening. If her hands were steady and her feet sure, she would take it. Hurrying wouldn’t help.
    And there was something else too, something she’d never thought before: I deserve this.
    Back home, Joan would’ve squashed the thought. But she wasn’t back home. She was miles and years from everything she knew, and she would die in this strange world. The only difference would be whether that death came fast or slow. And even if it was slow, even if she was lucky, the world would probably look less beautiful and be less kind to her before the end. At least now she could enjoy what pleasure there was.
    Joan sat on her bed in the morning sunshine, looked out the window, and smiled.
    ***
    When Rose came in carrying a large tray, she had something white and frothy draped over one arm. It looked like a dress to Joan but not like either of the dresses she’d seen Rose or Mrs. Edgar wearing. It was too thin and sleeveless. “Your chemise, miss,” Rose said, putting it down on the bed. “Mrs. Simmons will be here in under an hour.”
    Joan did hurry once Rose left, yanking the nightgown off and the chemise on, wanting to save time so she could savor her breakfast. It was worth the effort: two eggs, sausages, and toast, plus tea that didn’t wake her up as much here as the kind back home did but that also didn’t take the roof off her mouth. She ate as much as she could and then looked at herself in the mirror. The chemise hid the tattoos well enough, though there was nothing she could do about the scar on her upper arm or the mark from the flashgun. At least