Courtesan's Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

guardian, the Duke and Duchess of Meryon.”
    Mia added the titles, in case they had forgotten that she had friends in high places. “Lord David has secured a large parlor for my use. I would love it if you would join me for dinner.”
    Lord Belfort nodded but his wife put a hand on his arm. “Thank you, Miss Castellano, but we have our own room and would prefer to dine alone.” Lady Belfort swept by her, down the stairs, leaving her husband looking slightly apologetic as he followed.
    Well, the Belforts were no different from the rest of the ton in their opinion of her broken engagement. Mia prayed that Lord David had not heard the exchange, but as he and the slowly moving Janina reached the top of the stairs he commented, “Belfort looked disappointed.”
    “Well, they are newly married,” Mia said, pretending that she was not hurt. Lord David did not comment any further, out of kindness or, more likely, because he was preoccupied with his own thoughts.
    He left the two women at their room and Janina all but collapsed onto the pallet near the bed. Mia untied her own dress, and unlaced her corset. Then she stretched out on the bed. It felt wonderful not to be moving.
    With a sigh she thought about Lady Belfort’s snub. With her engagement over, Mia would know who counted as friend.
    Janina would never fail her. Her baseborn sister wasthe one constant in her life; they were loyal and loving, each to the other.
    Mia wished she knew how Elena would react to the news. William was Elena’s nephew, and they were very close. If Elena felt a need to take sides, Mia was sure family would win out over a ward. After all, there was no blood between her and Elena, and over the last year, Mia knew, she had been more trouble than anything else.
    As for William, well, she had been a fool to think that they could still be friends. Did he miss their adventures together as much as she did? Mia sighed.
    “I hear the sigh that is as good as tears. Stop thinking about Lord William. It is over.”
    Janina sounded better. Her voice was stronger. Mia turned to check her color. Still too pale.
    “I was wondering what will happen the next time I see him. The first time he was very cordial but last time, at that country ball in the Cotswolds, he ignored me. Completely.”
    “Then you will ignore him.” Janina lay on her back, her eyes closed, arms folded across her stomach, and her face toward the ceiling. Except for the rise and fall of her chest she looked as if she was ready for her coffin. Mia looked away.
    “But he sent me that letter apologizing and saying he would stop to see me at Pennford on his way north for hunting.”
    “You will not go hunting with him?” Nina asked, sounding shocked. “That would stir up all sorts of gossip.”
    “Hunt with him. Well, I suppose it would be an adventure, but I would definitely not fit in, now that we are no longer engaged.” Mia sat on the edge of the bed and met her sister’s eyes. “Besides, I do not think I like hunting. It reminds me too much of my life. Always trying to avoid a trap of someone else’s making. Rules are the trap the ton makes. And I had no choice but to try to follow them. That ended in disaster. Now I just want to be left to make my own choices.”
    “Only widows can do that. Which is too bad since you must marry first and one cannot count on a husband dying.”
    Mia laughed. “There is another way to make my own choices. Courtesans make their own choices. The salons they manage and the music they encourage appeals to me.”
    “That is truly one of your more outrageous ideas.”
    “Perhaps.” Mia stretched out again, well aware that Janina had not rejected the suggestion out of hand. “When I come of age the Duke and Elena will have no choice, just as I have had no choice for too long.” No choice but to leave Naples and settle in Rome with Elena and her first husband after her father died. No choice but to move to England when Elena decided to do so after