Vanquished by Hope Tarr Read Free Book Online Page A

woman-to-woman talks initiated by her thoroughly modern aunt, she'd yet to feel comfortable discussing such an intimate topic.
    "Well, he was." Lottie settled back against the cushions, dreamlike expression making her look younger than her sixty-odd years. "Sexual congress with someone we care for deeply is one of the highest expressions of our humanity, a precious opportunity to connect with the divine while we're still firmly rooted on this earth."
    Carried back to her own narrow escape from the parson's trap, Callie tightened her grip on her cup's porcelain handle. "Then perhaps you'd explain why it is the sex act brings out the beast in such a great many men."
    The look her aunt cast her conveyed both sadness and pity. "Lovemaking can and should be pleasurable for both man and woman. When passion is tempered with caring and patience, the result can be highly satisfying for both partners."
    Partners, once Callie had thought that was what she and Gerald would be after they'd wed. Not master and slave, conqueror and conquered but soul mates walking side by side on the journey of life. But those fairytale illusions had been torn away with brutal force, so that now the mere thought of placing herself in such a vulnerable--helpless--position ever again was enough to send a bolt of panic shooting straight through her. Yet there'd been a handful of moments, a blink of time, really, when she'd stared into a stranger's irreverent blue eyes and felt herself carried away from all that.
    "I expect I shall have to accept your word." Knowing it was fruitless to argue the point, Callie pushed aside the stool and rose. "You won't mind if I go upstairs? My speech for tomorrow night's assembly could do with a bit of polishing."
    "Of course not, dear." She had one foot over the threshold when Lottie called her back. "Callie."
    Callie slowly turned about. "Yes, Aunt."
    "You can't hide out behind those spectacles forever, you know. You're going to have to talk about it one of these days."
    "Perhaps . . ." The concern she saw in her aunt's softly lined face almost undid her. Almost, but not quite. "Only not tonight."
    Not tonight--and if Callie had her way, not ever.

    Seated at Hadrian's table, Dandridge unlocked his attache case and removed a string-tied bundle. Sliding it across to Hadrian, he explained, "Press coverage and publications of the Rivers woman from the past year. Familiarize yourself with them."

    Hadrian glanced down at pamphlet topping the stack.
Musings from the Mouths of Slaves: A Treatise on the Subjugation of Women.
Penned by redoubtable Miss Rivers herself, I see."
    Dandridge snorted. "Miserable radical rot, but you'll have to stomach it if you're to carry out your assignment."
    His
assignment.
In light of it, Hadrian thought back to the impromptu meeting in Parliament Square, marveling at the difference a few hours could make. Then Caledonia Rivers had been a pretty face to which he'd yet to attach a name, an attractive stranger he'd asked to tea with a mind to taking her to bed. When he'd handed back her papers, she'd smiled at him as though he were a knight in shining armor rather than a scapegrace photographer who'd only reclaimed a few wrinkled sheets from the wind.
    But staring across the table into the MP's hardened eyes, the happenstance encounter seemed sinisterly providential, as if the Powers That Be had conspired to deliver the lady into his devil's hands. But first he had to find a way to infiltrate the fortress of what he suspected was a regimented and rather complicated life.
    "Exactly how do you propose I approach her? Were I to proposition her outright, I'd put her onto me for certain."
    "That's been taken care of." The MP slipped a hand inside his coat's breast pocket and pulled out a sealed letter. "Consider this your entree into Miss Rivers's inner circle."
    "Unless you want me to break the seal, you'll have to do better than that."
    "Millicent Fawcett is president of the National Union of Women's