The Dangerous Lord by Sabrina Jeffries Read Free Book Online Page B

triplets. She strained to stand taller and got a cramp in her lower back for her pains. “I may not be of your ancient years, but associating with my father’s titled friends taught me a great deal. Marriage can be every bit as unpleasant as spinsterhood when one’s husband is a careless libertine with a wandering eye. Katherine may not thank me now for warning her so publicly, but she will later!”
    Oh, dear, now I’ve gone and done it , she thought, when he strode up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, the falcon swooping down for the kill. “You don’t know what you’re doing, you little fool!” he growled.
    The blatant attempt to intimidate her replaced her fear with fury. Wrenching free of him, she hurried to the door. “I know exactly what I’m doing. In my own way, I write the truth. You may find this hard to understand, since subterfuge is your usual practice, but this is my charge, and I do it as faithfully as I can!” She opened the door with a dramatic flourish. “Good day, my lord. Our conversation is finished.”
    His eyes narrowed. “Not by half.” He strode to the deskand stabbed his finger at her article. “I’m not leaving until you write that you were mistaken about my taking a house in Waltham Street for a woman.”
    â€œWrite a retraction?” The very idea appalled her. She walked over to the desk and snatched up the page, folding it and shoving it into her apron pocket. “I won’t do any such thing! First of all, I stand by my conclusions. Secondly, saying you never took the house would be a lie, and regardless of what you think, I do not lie in my column.”
    A grim smile touched his lips. “What if I say I’ll publicly reveal Lord X’s identity? What then? Would your popularity be as great if your readers discovered the bluestocking female behind the witty nobleman’s façade?”
    That he’d actually threaten her was the last straw. Ignoring her jolt of fear, she wagged her finger at him. “Go ahead, you bully! Expose me! And I’ll be after you like a magistrate after a thief! Until you convince people I’m Lord X—and that may prove difficult, mind you—I’ll make you and all the rumors about you the only subject of my column!”
    At his thunderous look, she lowered her voice to a hiss. “First I’ll set up camp outside your mistress’s door until she tells me every secret in your despicable life. Then I’ll scour the city for information about you. One way or the other, I won’t rest until I find out exactly why so many sordid rumors are linked to your name. I’ll make it impossible for you to marry anyone in this city!”
    To his credit, he didn’t even blink at her threat. But she could tell she’d made her point, for if eyes were pistols, she’d be shot full of holes. “So we’re at an impasse,” he said icily.
    She dragged in a shaky breath. Perhaps it hadn’t been so wise to meet threats with threats—especially when the man she threatened had power and wealth far exceeding her own meager resources. As Papa had cautioned her whenever she wanted to rail at his patrons, “You can’t taunt a cannonwith a club, my child. Not if you want to keep your head.”
    Deliberately, she softened her tone. “I don’t see it as an impasse. Things will merely continue as before. You’ll forget about my article, and I’ll forget we had this conversation. That seems fair.”
    â€œIt ‘seems fair’ that you’ve trumped up some scandalous tale about me just to influence your friend’s choice of husband? You may think it ‘fair’ if it pacifies your conscience, but we both know it for the nasty manipulation that it is.”
    â€œI’m sure you would recognize nasty manipulations more easily than I, given your reputation. I regard it as a service to