Forbidden Read Online Free PDF Page B

She'd surely freeze if she stood still, and she wasn't yet ready to resign herself to an icy death by the roadside.
    She felt the small purse in her pocket. Four guineas left, along with a few smaller coins. Some bulwark against the world, but little enough upon which to build a new life.
    She swallowed threatened tears and pushed back panic. All would be well when she found a way to London.
    She knew many women would be horrified that she was even considering becoming a Cyprian, but to Serena it was a case of needs must when the devil drives. To be a high-paid whore was infinitely preferable to marriage in her eyes. A mistress, after all, could leave her protector. She received money that she could keep as her own. She made the man no vows, and he had no power before the law.
    A chill wind was picking up, swirling under her warm cape and gown. Her feet were icy. She anxiously scanned ahead but saw no sign of humanity, good or bad. There could be some shelter quite close, though, she told herself. The hedges here were high, and even though it was November, they obscured her view of the surrounding countryside.
    She quickened her step, her mind returning to worry at her problem. She still had the option of returning home and marrying Seale. There was some hope that he would debauch himself into the grave even faster than her first husband, and next time she'd make sure to hold on to any assets that came to her....
    The fact that she was thinking of it told her she shrank from her practical choice.
    A whore. Could she really be a whore?
    What else had she been to Matthew, wedding ring or not?
    At least this way she'd be in charge of her destiny.
    A noise penetrated her tangled thoughts. Horses and wheels. Fearing pursuit, Serena whirled around.
    A carriage!
    No, a curricle.
    A man.
    No one she knew, she realized with sweeping relief.
    All the same, her heart raced as she thought of being caught here alone by any man, but there was nowhere to hide. She turned forward, hastening her step, though she knew she had no chance of outpacing the four-horse rig.
    It drew closer. The large, steaming chestnuts pounded past but slowed... slowed until the curricle was alongside and matching her speed.
    "May I take you up somewhere, ma'am?"
    An educated voice, but he could be up to no good accosting a woman on the road. Serena just prayed he would drive on.
    The curricle kept a steady pace. "Ma'am?"
    Oh, why would he not leave her alone? Serena turned slightly, staying huddled in the deep hood of her cloak. "I need nothing, thank you." She marched on.
    The man didn't drive past. "Ma'am, it's at least two miles to the nearest hamlet that I'm aware of, it's cold, night's falling, and I suspect a storm is coming."
    As if to prove his point, a few drops of icy water blew on a sharp gust of wind.
    "I cannot leave you here," he said simply.
    Serena saw it was hopeless that he go away, and she stopped to turn and look at him. No tame wool-factor, this. A blood, she thought with despair, reeking of fashionable arrogance from his tilted beaver to his glossy boots. His lean, handsome face was touched by wry amusement. At her.
    "I have no wish to alarm you, ma'am, but the weather threatens to worsen, and it hardly seems safe or proper for you to be alone out here. And consider my predicament," he added with a slight smile. "I've been very well trained in the gentlemanly arts and am cursed with a kind heart. I cannot possibly abandon you. If you insist on walking, I will have to keep pace with you all the way."
    Serena was seduced by his good humor and kindness, such rare ingredients in her life that she did not know how to resist them. A knife-sharp gust of icy wind decided her. She was in desperate need of shelter.
    Cautiously, she approached the curricle and raised her foot to the step. He stretched out a hand and helped her into the seat beside him.
    The very feel of his hand around hers, gloved as they both were, sent a jolt through her. Lean and