Further Than Passion

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Book: Further Than Passion Read Online Free PDF
Author: Cheryl Holt
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Historical, Regency
he was precisely the sort of scapegrace who would flaunt her embarrassing blunder at every turn. He would never let her live it down, would never let her forget it.
    She plopped down on the bed, her head in her hands. How she'd hoped that it had all been a bad dream!
    She had ten minutes to obey or ignore his dictate. If she ignored it, he would accuse her of theft, and then where would she be? Not even Christopher, an earl in his own right, would have the power to help her. With a ring of such value, she would be jailed, might even be transported to the penal colonies o r — G od forbi d — e xecuted.
     
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    If she went to him, she was well aware that his motives were far from innocent. With scant regard to her chastity, or any subsequent consequences, the blackguard would seduce her, and pitifully, she wasn't sure she'd mind. There'd be no force necessary.
    Was it the love potion? How could it be? What had been in that blasted vial?
    She'd be more than happy to succumb to his charms, which had her speculating as to whether the concoction hadn't driven her a bit mad.
    Hadn't she learned any lessons from her mother's folly?
    Though she'd been married and a countess, Kate's mother had run o ff with her Italian paramour. She'd been dissatisfied and miserable, had loathed Kate's stuffy, stodgy father, and she'd rushed to ruin, heedlessly leaving devastation in her wake. Kate's father had killed himself, she had been rendered a penniless orphan, and as a result of her reckless fling, Kate's mother went on to birth an illegitimate daughter.
    The girl, Selena Bella, was sixteen, the same age as Melanie. She'd surfaced in England, unannounced, two years earlier, with a trust fund and Kate named as her guardian in their mother's will.
    Kate had never met her, but with Regina's assistance, she'd worked with Selena's truste e — a London solicito r — t o arrange her affairs. Kate had coordinated rental of a house, hiring of servants, installation of a companion, and she authorized payment of all expenditures, but that was as far as she'd allowed their connection to extend.
    She couldn't bear the notion of having a scandalous
     
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    half sister, couldn't bear to recall their mother and her passionate nature. When Kate dared to examine her own life, she was horrified to note that, underneath her placid, amenable exterior, she was as despondent as her mother had ever been.
    Was discontentment an inherited trait ?
    Kate was tired of her subservient existence, where she was disparaged as an unwanted obligation, where she was beholden to Regina for every little thing. She was suffocating, choking on the mundane, and she would leap at the opportunity to be rash and irresponsible, which scared her.
    How closely did she resemble her beautiful, imprudent mother? If given the chance to revel, could Kate keep her riotous impulses tamped down?
    The clock chimed the hour, and she peered at the dresser. The empty vial was still there, taunting her with how it had unlocked her hedonistic inclinations. She walked over, grabbed it, and tossed it out the window into the yard below.
    Then she went to her bed and searched under the pillow. The ring was where she'd left it, folded inside a kerchief. She trudged to the fireplace, scrounged around in the hearth until she located a chink in the mortar, and hid the ring in the hole.
    Stamford could accuse her of having his ring, but he'd have to find it first!
    She retrieved her cloak and put it on, pulling the hood low so as to shield herself; then she crept to the door and peeked out. Seeing no one, she f litted to the stairwell, slipped inside, and climbed.
    To her surprise, his suite was directly above her
     
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    room, naught but a quick jaunt to the next floor. The proximity could lend itself to easy assignations, if she were disposed to debaucher y — w hich she wasn't!
    She intended to set matters straight, to show him that she wouldn't tolerate misbehavior, and to convince him that she was a
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