Pleasurably Undone! by Christine Merrill Read Free Book Online Page A

around a man, there were bound to be those who thought him responsible, through negligence or connivance.
    Stanton shook his head. “I am sorry, Tom. But I have nothing to offer you. I will keep you in mind, of course. And if the occasion arises, I will be in touch. Leave your direction with my man. But now, there is simply no need of another body.”
    Tom nodded, and tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. “I understand. Better than you think, perhaps. What you believe about me is not true. If I can find a way to prove it to you, I shall. And then, God help whoever has put these foul rumors in your head. I shall see they pay for their lies.”
    The earl shook his head. “Then God help you, Tom. For I cannot. Good day to you.”
    With that dismissal, Tom exited the office, back stiff with shame and the pain of fruitless exertion. Stanton shut the door behind him with a snap. And as he proceeded to the outer room, the little man who had tried to prevent his entrance now moved to block his exit. Tom raised his head to look and the clerk gestured to him, with a barest crook of the finger. “You seek employment?”
    Tom nodded.
    “And he turned you away, did he not?”
    Tom nodded again.
    The clerk gave a grim smile and whispered, “There is work enough here, should he choose to take you on. But he does not trust you. It is a shame. But I know of someone who is seeking men with knowledge that they would share. And although you are not as valuable as you might be, if you could return quietly to this office while still in his service, there are some tasks that would suit your abilities.”
    “Might suit me?” Tom said, a little dumbly.
    “I heard, just now, that you wished to take back some of your own against those who have put you in this unenviable position. You are crippled for doing what you thought wasright. And now you have been discarded by those in whom you put your trust. I offer you the opportunity for revenge.” The man smiled. “And profit as well.” He scribbled a few words on paper and pushed them hurriedly into Tom’s hand just as the door to the earl’s office opened again. Stanton looked at him with only the mildest curiosity, and turned his attention to the clerk.
    While they were both distracted, Tom slipped quietly from the room.
     
    Victoria sat in the little chair by the fire, awaiting her lover’s return. Tom’s manservant would not leave her alone, since he’d caught her going through the drawers of the little desk in the front room. He’d enquired if there was anything he might get for her. And asked again if she wished to send for her possessions.
    She’d shaken her head, smiled and assured him that there was nothing she needed. And still, he watched her with sharp, dark eyes that said his master might be easily gulled by his feelings for a beautiful woman, but the servant was nobody’s fool.
    She had wanted pen and ink to write to Stanton, and enough privacy to do it unobserved. With the servant hovering behind her, how would that be possible? And she could still find no way to explain the comfortable life she had been leading just a few short miles across town.
    The more she had seen of Tom’s civilian life the more guilty she felt for suspecting him. He lived simply, just short of poverty. If he had turned coat for the French, then they would have rewarded him in some way. There was no sign of the zealot in him that might make her think he’d done it out of loyalty to Boney.
    And now that she had seen the scars on his body, she couldnot convince herself that he had staged a minor injury to disguise his perfidy. What kind of fool would come near to sacrificing his leg just to throw the hounds from his trail? It had rendered him unfit for duty, and for many forms of employment.
    She had wanted to believe him innocent last night, as he’d held her and slept. But in the morning she had viewed the problem from all angles, lest her judgment had been swayed by sweet words and soft