Lord of Deceit (Heiress Games Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

controls dozens of seats in the Commons. His friends have positions open for vicars, secretaries, land agents, and other jobs. Half the men who talked to me before you arrived were attempting to curry my favor for just such an opportunity.”
    Interesting — she didn’t like being curried for Somerville’s favor. He filed that fact away. “So you guess that Somerville is the truth, and my desire for you is the lie?”
    She scanned his face. This time, the appraisal wasn’t meant to throw him off his guard — it seemed that the answer to that question was deeply important to her and she didn’t want to get it wrong.
    “You must be here for Somerville,” she decided. “You and I have only met once. The rumor mill has it that you don’t take mistresses. You can’t possibly be here for me.”
    “Why would the rumor mill be talking about my preferences?”
    “You are young, titled, and still in possession of all of your limbs despite the war. Per society’s expectations, if you don’t have a mistress, you must be in want of a wife.”
    “So says you and every other woman who has read Pride and Prejudice this year,” he retorted. “My sisters cannot stop quoting that line to me. Although I will say that this is the first time I’ve heard that being in possession of all of my limbs is my finest quality.”
    Octavia grinned. “Your hair and teeth are quite satisfactory as well.”
    “Are you hosting a salon or running a stud farm?”
    It was the kind of thing he never could have said to a lady. If Octavia were still the lady she had been four years before, she should have cut him after he said that. But she didn’t take offense. “There have been no marriages made at my salons, for rather obvious reasons,” she said drily. “Whether other liaisons have occurred is, of course, not something I shall comment upon.”
    Her parties were notorious only because Octavia hosted them. From what Rafe had heard, most of the activities in her house could have occurred in any gentlewoman’s home, although the men were free to discuss politics without having to accommodate the conversations of the fairer sex.
    If she had been a garden-variety courtesan, he might have considered buying her loyalty from Somerville. He had an inheritance in his own right from his mother’s estate, which had gone to him alone rather than his siblings — the old duke’s will, which controlled the assets he’d stripped from his wife when he had sent her into exile, had cut the younger children completely out of inheriting her properties. They were dependent on Thorington’s fortune, but Rafe could afford a reasonably lavish life if that was what he wanted. And he could afford to keep a courtesan, at least long enough to learn her secrets.
    But Rafe had the instincts of a spy, and he knew what he was dealing with. Octavia was the loyal sort. She couldn’t be bought — not without far more money than Rafe was willing to spend on the enterprise.
    That left him only a handful of options. He could attempt to win her friendship, and thus gain her confidence. That would take time — more time than he likely had. His superiors at Whitehall would eventually catch on if he courted Octavia. She had nothing to do with any of the foreign embassies. He should have taken a mistress from among the German or Austrian delegations if he was focused on what Whitehall had asked of him.
    Or he could trick her into divulging Somerville’s secrets. But the sharp look in her eyes as she perused him said that she would rarely make such a mistake.
    Or he could seduce her.
    It was his tactic of last resort — he much preferred to buy information. But women made mistakes when they believed themselves to be in love. Octavia was fair game — she was experienced enough to know the rules, and any association with him wouldn’t ruin her. The only challenge would be extricating himself at the end. After all, he couldn’t pretend to die in battle to get away from