MISTRESS TO THE MARQUIS Read Online Free PDF Page A

musicians played from the balcony above, the music floating sweet and melodic to fill the ballroom and haunt Razeby.
    ‘I was not sure they were going to let you in,’ he said to Linwood standing by his side.
    ‘I did have to call in a few favours.’
    ‘I am glad you did,’ he admitted.
    There was a small silence as the two men let their eyes wander to the other side of the dance floor and the crowd of white-dressed débutantes there that posed and giggled and chattered amongst themselves while their stern-faced turban-wearing chaperones looked on.
    ‘Does Alice know you are here?’ Linwood asked.
    ‘It is over between me and Alice.’ Razeby felt the weight of Linwood’s gaze, but he did not shift his own, just kept his face impassive and remained staring straight ahead so that nothing of his feelings showed.
    ‘I am sorry about that.’
    ‘So am I.’
    There was the music and the droning hum of surrounding conversations and the tinkle of women’s laughter.
    ‘You could have kept her on at least until you found—’
    ‘No.’ Razeby did not let him finish. ‘A clean severance is for the best.’ He met his friend’s eyes.
    Linwood raised an eyebrow. ‘I was under the impression that you and she dealt very well together.’
    ‘We do.’ He glanced away and corrected himself. ‘We did.’ He swallowed to ease the sudden tightness in his throat. ‘But she was my mistress, Linwood. And now it is time to find myself a wife.’
    Linwood looked at him with that too-perceptive gaze of his, as if he could see the way that Razeby’s stomach clenched at just the mention of her name. He was doing the right thing, the thing that had to be done. The thing he should have been doing six months ago, before Alice Sweetly came into his life and changed his best-laid plan. Six months and he could regret not one day of it. Six months and... He changed the subject, pretending something of his usual lightness of spirit when what he felt was anything but.
    ‘See what you missed out on by not playing the marriage mart?’
    Linwood smiled, which was a sight that was a deal more common since his recent marriage. ‘I would rather be tried for murder and catch a wife in the process,’ he said, referring to exactly what he had done just a few months ago. ‘Scandalous and dangerous—but more than satisfying in its end result.’ He smiled again and there was a softening of his expression so that Razeby could tell he was thinking of his wife, the former star of the Covent Garden stage, Venetia Fox. Venetia, who was Alice’s best friend.
    A vision of Alice swam in his mind. Alice, with her mischief and her heart and her laughter. Alice standing in their bedchamber looking at him with that expression of shock in her eyes as he told her it was over. Something churned in Razeby’s stomach. He forced that last image away and turned his gaze to the hordes of white-frocked débutantes across the floor, one of whom by the end of the Season would be his wife, in his bed and carrying his child. He felt numb at the thought, but it had to be this way. He had had his fun and Alice had been more than he had ever anticipated, but now it was time to bite the bullet and do his duty...before it was too late. He turned his mind from all other distractions and summoned a cold determination.
    ‘So which lucky débutante are you going to ask to dance?’ asked Linwood.
    ‘The first one I come to,’ replied Razeby with a smile that did not touch his eyes and, setting his champagne glass down on the silver salver of a passing footman, he made his way across the room.
    * * *
    The day had been a long one, following a night in which she had not slept, but Alice was not tired.
    It had been a mammoth effort and one which had seen her travel round half of London. But it had been worth it.
    The large travelling bag lay open at her feet.
    ‘Shall I help you, ma’am?’ The maid hovered awkwardly in the doorway as if afraid to enter the bedchamber. The