A Well Pleasured Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

crumbling beneath her feet. “But what will I do? Where will I go?”
    â€œThe Fairchilds will welcome you this time, I assure you,” Lord Whitfield said.
    Mary wanted to shriek. Didn’t he understand anything? “ I don’t want the Fairchilds. I don’t wantto know them, and I certainly don’t want to live with them.”
    â€œYou’ll always have a home with me,” Lady Valéry soothed her. “If not as my housekeeper, then as my friend.” Mary wanted to babble her thanks, but predictably, Lady Valéry wasn’t interested. “You’ll have to make arrangements with Hadden. Will you bring him?”
    â€œOf course not!” Too emphatic, Mary realized, and she fought to tone down her consternation. “There’s no need for him to leave here.”
    â€œHadden’s a young man,” Lady Valéry pointed out gently. “Perhaps he’ll have some thoughts of his own.”
    Mary shook her head. “He likes it here. He’ll be satisfied to stay.”
    â€œHow old is he?” Sebastian demanded.
    Mary didn’t even turn her head and look at him when she answered. “Nineteen.”
    â€œYour brother must be a dull youth if he’s content to remain in the lowlands of Scotland.”
    How obnoxious this Lord Whitfield was! She’d never be able to convince anyone she loved him. Never. Never. As evenly as her temper would allow her, she answered, “Hadden is much given to adventure, but unlike some youths, he can find it in places other than the stewpots of London.”
    â€œA direct hit,” he murmured, and clapped his hands softly. “Brava!”
    Mary turned her back to him. “When should I be ready to leave?” she asked.
    â€œTime is of the essence, especially if one of the guests will be purchasing the diary.” Lady Valéry tapped her fingers together. “Would it be possible for you to be ready to leave in two days time?”
    â€œAs you wish, my lady.” Mary curtsied to Lady Valéry, wheeled and bowed stiffly to Sebastian, and walked toward the door.
    Lady Valéry waited until the door shut behind Mary before rising to stand beside him. “What a vulgar exhibition that was. I would have never told you who she was if I had known you were going to approach her so crudely.”
    She waited while he weighed his answer, and knew a sense of satisfaction. Sebastian still respected and feared her. Now in her seventies, she hadn’t cared when her beauty faded, when wrinkles had formed around her eyes and she’d had to resort to plucking stiff hairs off of her chin. But she had minded, greatly, being excluded from the conferences of the powerful.
    A man, regardless of age, merited respect. A woman, especially an elderly woman, merited only a pat on the head and a bowl of sops. It was another of life’s injustices, and the one she’d had most trouble adjusting to.
    Placing her finger on his cheek, she turned his head toward her. “ I will go with you to the Fairchilds’ as Mary’s chaperone.”
    â€œChaperone?”
    His chin dropped, and she pushed it shut with a click of his teeth.
    Indignantly, he asked, “Do you think me so lacking in control I would dishonor that woman?”
    â€œNo. I think you so lacking in control you would seduce that woman.” She pressed a kiss on his forehead. “It is, after all, my diary we seek to recover. I’ll accompany you when you go, or you’ll not take my housekeeper at all.”
    â€œYou know I have no reason to be fond of a Fairchild.”
    He defended himself hotly, and Lady Valéry knew she had stumbled on the truth. Mysterious Mary Fairchild tantalized Sebastian.
    â€œAnd she is a true Fairchild.” Clearly, he hated the ardor that burned in him against his will. “One has only to look at her to know.”
    Now confident of her scheme, Lady Valéry walked to the door and