Mistress Read Online Free PDF Page A

devised a plan to find the blackmailer.”
    Marcus was beyond amazement now. “You hoped to find him by pretending to be my mistress?”
    “Exactly.” Iphiginia gave him another bright, approving smile. “At the time, I believed that I was hunting not only a blackmailer but a great villain who was capable of murder. You can imagine my concern.”
    “I am not dead, Mrs. Bright.”
    “Yes, I can see that,” she said patiently. “It does confuse the issue, does it not?”
    “Not unduly, I trust.”
    “I became your mistress in the eyes of the world so that I could mingle with your associates and acquaintances. My plan was to make discreet inquiries of them in an effort to decide who might have murdered you.”
    “Very thoughtful of you to try to hunt down the villain who had murdered me.”
    “I must admit that I did not undertake the deception in order to avenge you, my lord.”
    “I’m crushed.”
    Iphiginia’s eyes widened with dismay. “I do not mean to sound uncharitable or unfeeling, sir, but you must recall that when I first learned of this villainy, I did not even know you. I had not yet had a chance to study your nature.”
    “That would explain your lack of feeling, I suppose.”
    “But I didn’t lack feeling, sir,” she said quickly. “On the contrary. I assure you, I was exceedingly sorry that you had come to such a dreadful end.” She hesitated and then added in a small burst of honesty, “In a rather general way, if you see what I mean.”
    He restrained a smile with effort. “I’m grateful for whatever compassion you were able to spare. There are those who would not have been the least bit sorry to learn of my demise, not even in a rather general way.”
    “Nonsense. I’m quite certain that once Society had learned that you had been murdered, everyone would have been properly horrified.”
    “I’d advise you not to place any large wagers on that. What the devil did you think you’d learn as my mistress?”
    Iphiginia leaned forward. She was bubbling over with enthusiasm now. “I reasoned that the blackmailer had to be someone close to you, my lord. Someone who knew a secret so dreadful that he expected you to pay blackmail rather than allow it to be revealed.”
    Marcus raised one brow. “And that same person would also have to be privy to some grave secret of your aunt’s. Is that what you thought?”
    “How very perceptive of you, sir. That is precisely what I concluded. But I went one step further. I realized that whoever knew such intimate secrets about both your past and my aunt’s also had to know of your plans to be out of Town this month.” Iphiginia paused meaningfully. “The last blackmail note arrived the very day you disappeared, you see.”
    Marcus felt the old, familiar twist of curiosity. It temporarily swamped common sense in a way that he would never have allowed physical passion to do. “You reasoned that there could not be too many people who would have links to both me and your aunt, is that it?”
    “Precisely.” Iphiginia gave him an unabashed look of admiration. “You are, indeed, very quick, my lord, just as I had suspected.”
    This time Marcus flatly refused to be seduced by her glowing respect for his brain. He stuck to the issue at hand. “So you posed as my mistress in order to gain entrée to my circle of acquaintances.”
    “It seemed the only thing to do under the circumstances, although I admit that I was somewhat daunted by the task I had set myself.”
    “I find that hard to believe, Mrs. Bright,” Marcus said dryly. “I cannot conceive of you being daunted by anything or anyone.”
    “In most cases, you would be correct,” she agreed without a trace of humility. “But in this instance, I knew that I could not possibly hope to live up to the expectations people would have of me.”
    “Expectations?”
    “You know very well what I mean, sir. From what I could gather, your previous mistresses have been remarkably lovely widows who