Surrender by Amanda Quick Read Free Book Online Page A

Street runner?”
    “I thought it the most efficient approach to the problem.”
    “It was a brilliant approach,” Annabella declared.
    Lyndwood groaned. “Good Lord, if Mama only knew. Poor Barton. D’ya know, I think he rather cared for you, Bella.”
    “I doubt that,” Victoria said briskly. “His family has told him they expect him to marry and he is simply in the process of casting about for a wife who will suit his father. He tried me last year until I managed to make him see I would not do at all and then he moved on to try his luck with the Perfect Miss Pilkington. Evidently she, too, had the good sense to see that he was the lowest sort of fortune hunter. Then he spotted Bella, here, and decided to have a go at her. Nothing more to it than that.”
    “The Perfect Miss Pilkington?” Lucas glanced from one woman to the other. “Why do you call Miss Pilkington perfect?”
    “Because she is,” Annabella explained reasonably.“Never puts a foot wrong. A model of feminine perfection. A paragon, in fact.”
    “You will understand about Miss Pilkington, my lord,” Victoria said, “when we tell you that she is a protégée of Lady Atherton’s.”
    “I see.” No wonder Jessica had wanted to introduce him to the other heiress. It was a good bet that if he had decided to pursue Miss Pilkington, he would not now be sitting in a carriage with a young lady dressed outrageously in masculine attire. Lucas wondered for half a second if he had made a serious mistake earlier in the evening. And then he decided that whatever the risks, the night was going to be infinitely more interesting with Miss Huntington.
    “I thought you would, my lord,” Victoria said.
    “Well, one thing is certain,” Lucas pointed out dryly, “because of your interference, Miss Lyndwood will never have a chance to find out precisely how Barton does feel about her, will she? And Barton, himself, will never know he was done in by a paid runner and a certain Miss Huntington. The man will never even have a chance to defend himself.”
    “Could he defend himself?” Victoria retorted, her eyes clashing with his in the shadows. This time there was no mischief or humor in her steady, challenging gaze. “Are you saying that what the runner discovered was untrue?”
    Lucas held his ground, speaking evenly. “I am saying that it was none of your business to interfere in the matter. There might very well be mitigating circumstances.”
    “Hah. I doubt that very much,” Victoria said.
    “So do I,” chimed in Annabella. “Just imagine that poor woman tucked away with Barton’s children.”
    Lyndwood bestirred himself on the other side of the coach. “Neither of you two ladies ought to know a deuced thing about any of Barton’s offspring who happen to have been born on the wrong side of the blanket. T’ain’t right for you even to be discussing such matters, is it, Stonevale?”
    “Such conversation is certainly not the mark of well-bredladies of the ton,” Lucas muttered, grimly aware he sounded exactly like the boring prig Victoria had insinuated he was.
    Victoria’s smile was triumphant. “Lord Stonevale, allow me to point out that if you find my conversation too offensive for your delicate sensibilities, there is an easy remedy for you. Simply open the carriage door and depart.”
    Lucas realized in that moment that Victoria Huntington had the power to slice through his iron-willed self-control as no one else had been able to do in years. Furthermore, she accomplished the trick quite effortlessly. This lady was dangerous. He was going to have to work hard at staying in command of the situation.
    Lucas cleared his throat. “My sensibilities will survive your indelicate manners, Miss Huntington. And I could not possibly exit now. My honor still requires that I pay my gaming debts.”
    “Hah. This is no honorable gaming debt, sir. This is blackmail, pure and simple.”
    “I assure you,” Stonevale returned, “I am fast discovering