A Most Improper Rumor Read Online Free PDF

together has come to an end.”
    For that he received a killing look of disillusionment. “Why?”
    “God, Alicia, why do you think? I am not going to risk my wife and my child.”
    “She isn’t going to poison my cup of tea. If she was that foolish, she’d have been caught long ago.” To his disappointment, she pulled the sheet up to cover her nudity, giving a delectable feminine yawn as she settled against the pillows. “I’m quite hungry. Is it possible you could sneak down to the kitchen and pilfer some of that pudding?”
    Had he not done some questionable things during the war—and it was his own kitchen after all—he might have taken issue with the term pilfer. As it was, he rose from the bed and found his dressing gown. “Would you like anything else?”
    “If there is cheese and bread . . . that sounds delicious.”
    She was the one who looked delicious, sleepy and gorgeously tousled from his lovemaking. He predicted, “You’ll be fast asleep when I return.”
    “Then wake me.” Her lashes drifted lower.
    Tying his sash more firmly around his waist, he went out of the room, closing the door quietly, and headed for the stairs and then the back of the house. He was in the kitchen so infrequently that in the dark it took him several wrong turns to find it.
    Luckily, one of the footmen was in there, enjoying a cup of ale, and rose hastily to his feet. “My lord.”
    Since he didn’t normally prowl the house in his dressing gown, Ben merely quirked a brow in amusement at the young man’s evident surprise. “It seems I need a slice of the pudding we were served earlier and perhaps some bread and cheese. I’d appreciate some direction.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    The pudding, he discovered, was on a sideboard in the pantry, and a variety of cheeses kept in a cupboard by the large scrubbed table, along with various dried fruits. Bread had been freshly baked and sat cooling on long racks; he eyed it dubiously, not certain he wanted to infringe on the cook’s menu for the next day.
    “For Lady Heathton, she won’t mind,” the young man said helpfully, “especially considering her condition.”
    So it was true; everyone
did
know but him. Ben swore softly, picked out a fragrant loaf that seemed to be studded with currants and nuts, and put it on a plate with a couple slices of cheese. “Thank you . . .”
    “Robert, my lord.”
    He knew entirely too little about his own household, he thought as he took the tray upstairs.
    Which might be pertinent, actually. It wasn’t that he hadn’t recognized the footman; he just hadn’t known his name or how long he’d been in his service. He obviously interacted with his secretary and steward often, and the butler and housekeeper, but he didn’t really pay attention to the coming and going of the other household staff.
    Interesting. Who could have gained acceptance into Lady DeBrooke’s household and had access to the kitchen?
    He doubted she knew. He wouldn’t.
    Shouldering the door open, he saw his prediction was quite correct. Alicia was asleep, breathing gently, her shoulders bare above the drawn sheet, long lashes throwing shadows on her cheekbones.
    Tray in hand, he stood there in the shadows, just gazing at her.
    In repose, she was . . . dangerous. Not because she was beautiful—though she was that—and not because she was his wife and carried his child, but because she threatened his peace of mind.
    The ordered life he’d resigned himself to the day he inherited his father’s title and responsibilities was not reflected in Alicia’s adventurous spirit.
    Did she complete him, or just confound him?
    The answer was elusive.
    He deposited the tray on the table beside the bed and gently tried to wake her without success, which made him laugh indulgently, one hand smoothing her bare shoulder, his mood unexpectedly light.
    What made a man choose one woman over all the others? Her smile, the way she walked across the room, the timbre of her