A Compromised Lady Read Online Free PDF

thinking of the next couple of months to be spent in the full glare of society and its crowding, jostling throng…all of whom would turn on her if they knew the truth…From nowhere panic ambushed her, sinking familiar claws deep. Her stomach clenched, warding off the striking terror. She forced her body to relax, her lungs to draw breath steadily, blanking her mind. And as suddenly it was gone, a chill warning, leaving her cold and shaking, but free and rational. Free to wonder if she had been completely insane to imagine that she could do this.

    As the drawing room door clicked behind Almeria and her houseguest, Richard throttled the urge to swear resoundingly. He could only marvel at the neatness of the trap, as he sat down. A trap compounded of his own good manners. The same good manners that would keep him from strangling his godmother when she returned. Very well, he was fond of Almeria too, and she was family.
    ‘Quite a coincidence that you are here to greet my sister, Blakehurst,’ remarked David in biting accents.
    Richard’s normally even temper flickered. ‘Just so,’ he said. ‘Do take a seat again, Winslow.’
    Perhaps he would strangle Almeria. Affectionately, of course. If he lived long enough. Judging by Winslow’s narrowed gaze, there was every chance he might not.
    ‘You are staying in town?’ David asked, in deceptively casual tones. He remained standing.
    Not deceived in the slightest, Richard said, ‘I am. Here, as a matter of fact.’

    The silence that followed this admission seethed.
    Richard sat back and waited. Winslow’s grey eyes resembled nothing more than twin blades.
    ‘How very…convenient.’
    Richard’s temper did a great deal more than flicker. It smoked and curled at the edges. Winslow’s attitude reeked of protective elder brother, although why he would imagine that Thea required protection from himself was beyond Richard’s comprehension. And there was something else in Winslow’s level gaze: scorn.
    ‘Can I pour you a brandy?’ he offered politely, damping down his temper.
    Winslow declined. ‘Thank you. No. I will take my leave of you.’
    Richard smiled. ‘Then no doubt I shall see you again. You will be calling on Miss Winslow, I dare say.’
    ‘Most definitely,’ her brother replied in clipped tones. ‘If only to keep an eye on all the scaff and raff who cluster around heiresses.’
    Richard blinked. Then anger welled up—it was a very long time since anyone had accused him of being a fortune hunter. And even then, at least he had been well aware of the chit’s fortune! This time…
    ‘No need to summon the butler. I’ll find my own way out.’ David executed a perfunctory bow and left.
    Left alone, Richard said several things he had suppressed when Almeria left the room—and a few more for good measure. While he’d known that Thea must at least be respectably dowered, the term heiress suggested a great deal more. And while Almeria’s penchant for dropping stray heiresses in his path had caused him considerable embarrassment on occasion, he couldn’t recall that it had ever put him in danger of his life before. There had been a definite glint of gun metal in Winslow’s eyes.
    He took a deep breath. And then there was Thea herself. Something had wrought a change in her that went far beyond years. Far beyond the change from a young girl on the eve of her come-out to a young woman. Thea-the-girl had been exuberant, bubbling over with mischief. Thea-the-woman seemed half-lost in shadow…only there had been that flash of light when their hands met—
    as though something had awakened inside her.
    And as for her blasted, hitherto unsuspected fortune—Winslow was right; it would have the fortune hunters out in force.

    By the time Almeria returned to the drawing room, he had managed to reduce the situation to its proper proportion. Almeria was matchmaking. No more. No less. He rose as she sailed into the room, saying airily, ‘I must have forgot to make