Lady of Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

thinking he is preaching to us about our way of life. It has turned into a little religious war of sorts between him and her. Every year, when that Bible arrives at Christmas wrapped in the same brown paper my grandfather has been using since I kicked out a foot, Mama scribes him a curt thank you and then quietly tucks away said Bible on the shelf with all the other books as it if were a stale fruitcake no knife could ever cut through. Do you know we have well over twenty Bibles in the library, all side by side, and none of them have actually been read by the people who ought to read them? Only my sisters, the governess and I have ever read them from front page to back page. I actually like the Bible. More than I thought I would. The only real objection I have with its content is that women aren’t portrayed all that well. For some reason they’re all whores. Why is that?”
    Caldwell choked, coughed and then sputtered into laughter. He laughed and laughed and… laughed , letting it roll around them as if he had no intention of ever stopping.
    She gurgled out a laugh herself, pleased he found her to be that funny. “What?” she teasingly prodded, hoping to keep his laughter going. “Am I the only person to have ever asked that question? They couldn’t have all been whores. But then again, I suppose that would explain the rapid growth of our world’s population.”
    He staggered and laughed harder, tears now coming to the edges of his eyes. He swiped his mouth with the tips of his fingers, trying to return to a state of calm, and choked out, “I needed that. I really did.”
    An exasperated smile tugged her lips. “I am always happy to oblige.”
    He leaned in and nudged her. “And this is exactly why you can’t leave. I need my Thursdays.” Caldwell puffed out a breath. “Do you really have to go? Can’t your mother travel to Bath without you this one time? None of your sisters are going.” He lingered.
    She glanced up at him. It was as if he genuinely needed her in the same way she needed him. She swallowed. Maybe this was it. Maybe now was the time to let him know how she felt. How she had always felt.
    She fumbled her fingers into her bodice. Dragging out the folded parchment, she unraveled it and paused, realizing the ink had smeared. A shaky breath escaped her. It looked how she felt. With quaking hands, she still held it out. “I know it’s smeared, because I forgot to blot the ink, but can you read it?”
    “Of course.” He took the letter. Angling it toward himself, he scanned the letter, pausing to read each sentence. Reaching the end of it, his gaze veered to hers.
    He said nothing. Absolutely nothing.
    Heat burned her face. “I wasn’t thinking now. I simply didn’t want to be promised to another.”
    He quietly folded the letter and pushed it back into her hands. “You shouldn’t have written that. You’re too young. And your father is a goddamn fool for already discussing prospects. You have time. Lots of it.”
    She hated knowing he still thought she was a child. She pushed the letter back into his hands and stubbornly met his gaze. “I’m old enough to know when I love someone. And though I haven’t had the courage to say it, I am saying it now: I love you and I have for some time.”
    He blanched. “Caroline.” His hands stilled against the letter. “You’re only sixteen.”
    She lowered her gaze, fingering his coin. “So you never thought about us getting married?” she asked in between tight breaths. She dared not look at him as she awaited his response.
    Silence pulsed.
    The clock ticked in the distance.
    When he still said nothing, she lifted her gaze to his, feeling unbearably vulnerable. “Say something.”
    His brown eyes softened. Tucking her letter into his inner waistcoat pocket, he searched her face. “You and I are far more to each other. We are friends.”
    She swallowed, knowing full well what that meant. No Persuasion .
    Tears blinded her from seeing his face.