Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress by Theresa Romain Read Free Book Online Page A

touching her under the chin. He didn’t turn her face toward him; he wondered whether she would turn on her own.
    She breathed more quickly, but let the moment pull out long and slow as taffy. Her sweet, flowery scent caught at him, and the voices ringing against the stretching walls and ceiling of the marble room seemed a bit less overwhelming to his tired ears.
    He shouldn’t have declined her offer, gracelessly though it had been made. You would do. It was better by far than much of what he had heard in his life. Mongrel , said the village children who lived near Sutcliffe House. From his own relatives: You’re lucky we took you in. Be grateful for what you’re given.
    Compared to that, you would do was practically a benediction. Even now, maybe, he could tell her Yes—yes, take me, and I will take you . I’ll be whatever you want in a man.
    But if he did that, he would be trapped by everything he sought to escape. He would be nothing he wanted.
    â€œAugusta,” he said once more, quiet as a whisper. “I’m sorry. And it does matter to me.”
    Her eyes searched him, a flicker of lashes up and down. As she looked up at him, her jaw was set. Was that dismissal he read in her features?
    It was nothing new. Nothing he hadn’t seen or heard from Sutcliffe time and again.
    And just as always when faced with dismissal, he smiled to show how little it affected him.
    A heavy pause followed; then, to Joss’s surprise, Augusta smiled back. A real smile, one that made her eyes crinkle and caused the most adorable little crease to cross the bridge of her nose.
    Ahem . Not an adorable crease. An ordinary crease, of the same sort that fat old men got when they frowned at a newspaper.
    Right.
    Then she lifted a hand to catch his, pressing it away from her chin. “So you can be serious.”
    â€œWhen the moment requires it.” He sighed.
    â€œThe moment did, most definitely, require it.” As though dusting herself off, she brushed his gloved fingers from hers. “I agreed to meet you at this time and place, because this is when everyone in Bath comes to the Pump Room. Here, we are sure to find the people we seek.”
    â€œYou to find your lover, and me—”
    â€œI’ve been thinking about that,” she said, as calmly as though it were quite usual for a man and woman who hardly knew each other to discuss paramours in public. “Your cousin wishes you to raise money by selling land or coal or some such thing. But if he is truly being blackmailed, there’s no guarantee another demand for money won’t come. What would he do if that happened?”
    If that happened…Joss wouldn’t give a damn, because he would be free from the quagmire of Sutcliffe’s life. “I cannot prepare for that eventuality, unless you think the blackmailer can be located and somehow be persuaded to stop. Which would be delightful, but blackmailers are rarely noted for their charitable impulses.”
    â€œThey are not, that’s true.” Rising to her tiptoes, she whispered in his ear. “But there are many ways to persuade people without appealing to their better natures. All we need do is find the right method.”
    â€œ We? ” Joss shook his head slightly to dispel the tickling sensation left in his ear by her breath. “No, impossible. You cannot become involved in Sutcliffe’s private affairs. I may have said you held everyone’s secrets, but Augusta, I didn’t mean it.”
    â€œI know you didn’t. You weren’t being serious at that time.” With a smile that looked like bared teeth, she added, “But you’re serious now, and I am too. We both want something far too much for wisdom. And so we need to help each other, or we’ll both end by making a terrible mistake.”
    ***
    Augusta blew out an impatient breath, waiting for Joss to do something besides blink down at her. If he ever would.
    This