I've Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm (The Lords of Worth) Read Online Free PDF Page A

critically. “Had you not felt the need to choke me earlier, I would have had a better idea of your size.”
    “Had you not felt the need to abduct me last night, I might have been more courteous upon waking.”
    “Abduct?” The man’s brows rose fractionally. “Fancy word for dragging a man insensible from drink off the streets and putting him to bed.”
    Jamie winced. Well, hell. The man had a point. “My apologies.”
    Sebastien’s lips twitched. “Likewise.”
    Jamie nodded warily. “Now what?”
    Sebastien considered him. “I would suggest a shave.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you look like a man who’s been stranded on an uninhabited island for a year.”
    “I have.” The words slipped out before he realized their import. That was the perfect description of his life.Trapped alone on an island in a vacuum of nothingness. Dear God, when had he become so maudlin?
Probably when you sobered up
, a little voice intoned.
    “I see.”
    Jamie made a bitter sound in his throat. “I doubt you do.”
    This time it was Sebastien who made the same noise. “You’d be surprised.” He paused. “However, on my island, razors and self-respect have been invented. Let me extend the courtesy.”
    Jamie smiled despite himself. “You can leave it there.” He gestured at the table.
    Sebastien looked at him in horror. “I think not.”
    This time he laughed at the man’s sincere dismay. “You have so little confidence in my ability to groom myself?”
    Sebastien’s eyes traveled the length of him, and a dark brow rose pointedly. “I’m sure you’re quite capable,” he managed diplomatically with answering amusement. “But I insist.” He dragged the chair over to the fire. “Sit.”
    Jamie remained standing as he watched the man rummage through a leather bag and extract a small shaving kit, laying the contents out on the table with a precision that suggested he’d done this countless times. “Am I to trust you with a blade at my throat then?”
    Sebastien rolled his eyes. “If I had wanted to kill you, Mr. Montcrief, I wouldn’t have bothered to tuck you into bed so nicely last night. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to drag your rather substantial carcass up those stairs? Besides,” he added, pulling out a pair of barbering scissors and running his fingers along the edges of the blades, “Gisele already paid for your clothes, and they sure as hell won’t fit me. Or her.”
    Jamie listened to Sebastien strop the razor. “What is Gisele to you?”
    The rhythmic sound stopped before resuming. “A friend,” came the careful reply. “What did she tell you?”
    “Absolutely nothing.”
    “Yet you agreed to help us. Why?” The sharp smell of soap drifted across the room.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Because she’s beautiful?”
    “No. Well, that might have been a part of it.” Jamie grimaced. “She’s the first person in a long time who has put faith in me. And she did say please.”
    “At least you’re honest.” There was a clatter as Sebastien pushed the small table closer to Jamie. “Now, continuing to look like a beggar will not help anyone, Mr. Montcrief. Sit.” Sebastien rolled his eyes again. “
Please
.”
    For lack of any other options, Jamie sat.
    “Shall we begin?”

Chapter 3
    A dam Levire, the Marquess of Valence, was drunk. Normally he did not enjoy the loss of control that accompanied insobriety, but tonight he required a brief escape. He sat alone in his study, fingering the fine crystal and drinking his hideously expensive brandy the way one might gulp cheap ale. The liquor, however, had thus far failed to dull his mounting grief and rage. Four years, and he still felt cheated. Four years and he had yet to get over the loss of his beloved wife.
    Gisele had been perfect. He had known the moment he saw her in that dowdy dress at that dowdy country house, surrounded by crude and clumsy country boys. Gisele’s father had paraded the exquisite girl about the room as though she