Seducing the Spy by Celeste Bradley Read Free Book Online

together."
    He released a short bark of laughter at that.
    She looked at him oddly. "You might want to oil that. It seems to be rusting." Then she threw herself down on the seat to lounge nearly horizontal. "No, I do not want reform. I want revenge. Pure, simple, untarnished by higher motives—sweet, sweet revenge." She rolled her head and smiled at him slyly. "And you're going to help me get it."
    "Revenge upon whom?"
    "My family, the ancient and noble Sutherland line."
    "What has your family to do with this matter?"
    Her gaze slipped to the window, unseeing. "My ho—my family's home is in Sussex. Lord Cross is one of our closest neighbors." She drew a breath. "My parents are all that is proper and respectable. More now than ever, I'm sure, to compensate for their notorious daughter." She tossed her head, putting on a wide smile. "Have you never wanted to undo time? Have you never turned around and said, 'What was I thinking?' "
    "Everyone has regrets."
    She rolled her eyes. "Wyndham, I didn't ask if 'everyone' had regrets. I asked if
you
had regrets."
    Lady Alicia fixed her gaze on his. He could not lie. "I do," he said gruffly. Then he looked away to resist the probing in her eyes. "I simply do not feel the need to make others pay for my mistakes."
    She didn't let up. "But what if what might have been a simple mistake, one that has been made by others but that ended happily enough for them—what if that error was vastly magnified by the actions of others who acted with intentional evil?"
    She twisted her feet beneath her and raised herself onto her knees in her urgency. "What if those people not only lost nothing, but gained a great deal while you alone suffered?"
    "Vengeance is not—"
    "No!" She smacked the chair cushion with one hand. "No more homilies. What would you want, in that case? If you were, after years of being powerless, suddenly offered an ideal opportunity for lovely, public, perfect vengeance?" She gazed at him without relent. "Would you resist?"
    He could not tear his gaze from hers. What must she have suffered over the last five years? He could see the prim squalor of her home, imagine her life next to the filthy little pub. He'd seen the care she still lavished on her old nurse, though she doubtless would have survived better on her own. He could imagine the hopelessness of her future.
    For Lady Alicia Lawrence, there would never be a husband, children, or any sort of social stature. As notorious as she was, she would be scorned by the lowliest shop girl.
    She was watching him. "I used to love Christmas." Her voice was flat. "There were cakes and pies, and my mother would do her best to fill the tree with small gifts she'd purchased with the pin money my father allowed her. My sisters and I would light the little candles on the branches on Christmas morning. The servants used to sing for us then, and right then, for a moment, we were as loving a family as you might ever see."
    She tilted her head. "I don't know if they still light the candles. I don't know what Alberta and Antonia find on the tree. I'll never taste our cook's raisin pie again. When my sisters marry, I'll not be invited. When my father passes on, I won't be wanted at the funeral ceremony." She struck the seat again, with both fists. "
They threw me away, Wyndham
! One day I'm a cherished daughter, the next day I'm nothing but rubbish!"
    There were bright tears of fury and pain swimming in her emerald eyes, but she was too proud to let them fall as she glared at him. "What would you do, my lord? Would you let that lie? Would you turn the other cheek, or would you take up that perfect opportunity for vengeance?"
    He could not answer her… for he truthfully no longer knew the answer. He looked away, shutting himself off from the aching vividness of her pain.
    "Do not allow your… your purpose to interfere with my requirements, Lady Alicia," he said without inflection. "Or our agreement will come to an end."
    He turned away, ending the