The Rake's Mistress by Nicola Cornick Read Free Book Online Page B

‘I shall hope to see you again soon, my lord.’
    ‘The pleasure will be all mine,’ Lucas said, with an expressive lift of his brows.
    Rebecca watched him give Nan his hand up into the carriage. She was sorely tempted to bolt the door against him whilst he was outside, except that he struck her as the sort of man who would probably climb in at the window. So she waited, her jaw set, a stormy look in her eyes.
    ‘You look quite put out, Miss Raleigh,’ Lucas said, as the coach rolled away down the street. He closed the workshop door quietly and came across to her. ‘Whatever can have happened to put you in so poor a temper?’
    Rebecca pressed her lips together hard. ‘I apologise if I appear unwelcoming, my lord. The factof the matter is that I have an important commission to fulfill and have already lost time today through Miss Astley’s visit. You must excuse me—’
    ‘Must I?’ Lucas murmured. He took a step closer, his eyes on her face. ‘But I have gone to an inordinate amount of trouble just to find you, Miss Raleigh.’
    ‘Then you would have done better to save yourself the effort, my lord,’ Rebecca said, above the swift beating of her heart, ‘for I have no time to spare.’
    Lucas’s gaze searched her face. ‘You are mighty quick to dismiss me, Miss Raleigh. What if I too had an offer to make you?’
    Rebecca’s heart raced. She turned away, retreating behind her desk. ‘I am not interested in the type of offer a gentleman might make to me,’ she said. ‘They usually involve the sort of work that is…not my forte…’
    Lucas was following her, his footsteps slow, soft and inevitable. He was smiling. ‘And what sort of offers might those be, Miss Raleigh?’
    ‘You know full well,’ Rebecca said, her mouth dry.
    ‘Yes, I think that I do.’ Lucas came to stand in front of her. His voice hardened. ‘They are the kind of propositions made by the likes of Lord Fremantle, are they not?’ His gaze drifted over herthoughtfully. ‘Have you ever accepted such a commission, Miss Raleigh?’
    The angry sparks lit Rebecca’s blue eyes. ‘You should mind your own damned business, my lord.’
    Lucas’s smile deepened. ‘You could become my business, Miss Raleigh.’
    ‘You mistake, my lord. That could not happen.’
    ‘No?’ Lucas tilted his head thoughtfully. There was a challenge in his eyes. Rebecca saw it and her heart stuttered.
    ‘No.’ She did not sound even a quarter as certain as she would have liked.
    Lucas watched her for a few seconds, his expression very still, then he drove his hands into his pockets. ‘We shall see. As it happens, you quite mistake me, Miss Raleigh. The offer I intended to make was a commission for a piece of work.’
    Rebecca was startled. ‘A commission?’
    ‘Of course.’ Lucas’s dark hazel gaze mocked her. ‘I am quite offended that you think me callow enough to offer you carte blanche when what I really wanted was a set of engraved glasses as a wedding present for my brother.’
    Rebecca was neatly trapped and she knew it. She had not the slightest belief that Lord Lucas had even thought of commissioning a piece of engraved glass before the previous night. Very likely the matter of glass engraving had not been one onwhich he had had any opinions at all. Yet she could scarcely accuse him of lying…
    The words broke from her. ‘I cannot believe, my lord, that you have had a long-cherished intention of ordering a piece of engraved glass for your brother’s wedding!’
    Lucas laughed. ‘Of course I have not, Miss Raleigh, but there is a perfectly simple explanation. I have been cudgelling my brains this fortnight past to think of what I might give Richard and Deborah as a wedding present. When I met you—’ he gestured airily ‘—the problem was solved.’
    Rebecca sighed heavily. It was a plausible enough explanation and, goodness knew, she should be grateful for the commission. A piece of work done for an eminent family like the Kestrels