Beckman: Lord of Sins Read Online Free PDF

irresistible.” Beck was waiting with the rinse water when North came up clean.
    “You learned this before you got sent down from valet school,” North suggested as he heaved to his feet.
    “I learned this in a hundred different inns and hostelries. Cleanliness is a universal concept, often honored more in the breech.” Beck dumped the water over North’s head before he could reply. He’d been tempted to make the water chillingly cold, but as tired and sore as he was, he could only imagine North would have found some diabolical way to get even. “Your towel, such as it is.”
    “It’s clean.” North took the proffered towel. “And so, thank God, am I—even if I smell like an expensive whore.”
    “And you would be familiar with this scent?”
    North met Beck’s gaze then ducked his face back into the towel, and Beck had the satisfaction of knowing a shrewd and private man had just slipped. He’d slipped only a little, not enough to embarrass either of them, but he’d slipped.
    “I’ll take those clothes now.” North hung the towel over a drying rack. “Unless you’d prefer I terrorize the ladies as I am?”
    “That scar doesn’t disfigure you.” Beck assembled a stack of clothing and passed it to North. “You earned it, and it’s a symbol of courage and bravery under duress. Nobody—no woman—who cared for you would see it as anything else.”
    “If you say so.” North’s tone was supremely bored. “Nice material, Haddonfield.”
    “Your clothing is just as well-made,” Beck said. “Your boots are Hoby, if quite worn. Your waistcoat is Bond Street, perhaps Weston.”
    “Your point?” North wasn’t quite as tall as Beck, but he packed even more muscle, and the clothes fit well.
    “I don’t judge a man for wanting some privacy,” Beck said, “but if you’re here under false pretenses, I won’t put up with a threat to my grandmother’s household, either.”
    Which might be a threat to the Hunt womenfolk, come to that.
    “I’m no threat to anyone.” North’s expression was so bleak Beck had to look away.
    “That makes two of us, then. Shall we go perfume the kitchen with our tidy selves?”
    “Lay on, MacDuff.” North gestured grandly with one arm, and Beck was struck by just how attractive a clean, well-turned-out Gabriel North appeared.
    And how aggravatingly familiar… as he accurately quoted Shakespeare and filled out Beck’s finery to good advantage.
    Dinner was another surprisingly delicious meal, served in generous portions but without wine. Beck debated offering a bottle from the stores he’d sent down, but because North had helped him unload the wine crates and didn’t remark it, he held his silence.
    Dessert was flan, Polly having gotten her hands on both the oranges and the honey Beck had brought from Kent. Allie in particular made short work of her dessert, but Beck came in a close second.
    “I have a request of you ladies,” Beck said when everybody’s bowl was empty. “I want to ask you to make a list of household necessities, things that are getting old, worn, or in low supply. I noticed the bath towels are nearly rags, for example, and the runner in the back hallway is nigh coming unbraided. The wagon is empty now, and the team is here. There’s time before planting to make several trips to Portsmouth or even Brighton.”
    “That’s very generous of you,” Mrs. Hunt said, meeting Polly’s guarded gaze, “but we’re managing adequately.”
    “Lady Warne is a marchioness,” Beck replied, and why had he anticipated having to coax this from them, despite the condition of the estate? “Her lineage is old, much respected, and deserving of a certain dignity. Three Springs falls short of that dignity, through no fault of present company, and I am charged with addressing the oversight. I’d like to see it done before I am recalled to the family seat, which summons might come at any time.”
    “Make your list, ladies,” North said as he rose. “You