Masques of Gold Read Online Free PDF

out of her eyes so that they looked all soft brown. Justin had to remind himself sharply that this image of gentle timidity might easily have connived with one or both of the absent sons to murder the old man. If she and one of the sons were lovers, and if old Peter had discovered them…
    â€œUnless what?” Justin asked, keeping his voice soft with spurious sympathy and suppressing the spurt of rage he felt at nearly succumbing to a glance full of appeal and admiration.
    â€œUnless they thought I would attempt to steal their heritage from them,” Lissa replied, straightening her back and dropping her hand so she could clasp both together in her lap. She looked at Justin with a touch of defiance. “I cannot imagine how they could be so silly as to believe I would have any claim to Peter’s money or property. What was to be mine on Peter’s death was clearly defined in our wedding contract and put into safekeeping with Hamo Finke, but Peter’s sons were very much opposed to our marriage. It is possible, I suppose, that they suspected I had…seduced their father into making a new will while we were at Canterbury, but—”
    Lissa stopped speaking abruptly and bit her lip. She had nearly blurted out the fact that Peter did not really care for her and had only married her as part of some arrangement with her father so it would have been impossible for her to influence him against his sons. She must not imply there was anything unusual about her marriage or that her father was otherwise involved than to obtain the best settlement he could for his daughter. It would be fatal to allow her feeling that Sir Justin was a strong, safe haven to induce her to tell him more than was safe for him to know. Sir Justin—she had inquired about him after meeting him—was known for truly seeking justice, and that was dangerous to her in this case.
    â€œThen there is no new will?” he asked.
    â€œNo.” Lissa brought a hint of indignation into her voice. “It would have been stupid and cruel of me to try to obtain such an advantage. I told you I know nothing of the goldsmith’s trade. What good would the reversion of Peter’s business have been to me? Besides, I am my father’s heir—” She stopped again, troubled by the way her father kept creeping into her mind and conversation.
    â€œAnd your father is…?”
    â€œWilliam Bowles,” Lissa answered shortly.
    â€œI do remember you!” The words burst out before Justin thought, followed by an irrepressible smile.
    The name of William Bowles, the sharp tone of her voice, and her slightly indignant expression brought back to Justin a clear memory from the past year. After the rain, which had finally quenched the terrible fire that had destroyed a third of London, many of the townsfolk who had escaped loss had come out to do what they could for their less fortunate fellow citizens. In one of the churches where the homeless and injured were being sheltered, Justin had been questioning a distraught woman, and Madame Heloise had interposed herself, telling him sharply that he would learn more if he spoke more gently.
    Justin remembered being so startled by having a young woman dare take him to task with such firmness that instead of blasting her with withering scorn, he had excused himself, admitting that his temper might be short because he had not slept in two days. Then she had apologized to him and begged him to leave the woman to her. In two minutes she had obtained the information he wanted. But Justin could not see how that meeting between them would give her reason to admire him for his charity. Unless she had noticed him later when he had almost come to her assistance.
    She had been tending an injured child, and his attention had been drawn to her just as hers had, no doubt, been drawn to him earlier—by a loud male voice. He had seen William Bowles standing over her and ordering her not to