My Lady Notorious Read Online Free PDF Page A

then blew out the candle and led the way toward the stairs.
She hesitated at the top of the steep flight. “Chas, what if he tries
to marry you off again?”
    “Father?” Chastity laughed harshly. “That’s the only blessing. My
defiance pushed him into ruining me with absolute thoroughness. No man
is ever going to want to marry the Notorious Chastity Ware.”
    Cyn watched her stride through the room and go upstairs. She had
found the pistol, and so he assumed she was convinced of his good
intentions. She didn’t appear particularly mellowed.
    He wanted to see her smile. He wanted her to talk to him, to tell
him her problems so he could shoulder her burdens. He was surprised to
find that on very brief acquaintance he had developed a warm
appreciation for his captor’s spirit, and for her unconventional
appearance.
    That sleek, otter-fur hairstyle was extremely strange, but it showed
off a beautifully shaped skull. Why had he never realized the potential
beauty in a skull? He relished the notion of stroking that sleek head
as much as he would anticipate running his hands through a mass of
silken curls.
    That hair also pulled into focus the clear strong lines of her
face—the smooth, high forehead, the straight chiseled nose, the firm
jaw. Even those ordinary blue-gray eyes, when properly framed, were
unforgettable. She was decidedly not in the common style of women, but
then, he had never favored the common.
    She carried herself with the fluent pride of a male— shoulders
straight, stride purposeful. He found it surprisingly erotic, and
regretted that the male attire had presumably only been put on for the
robbery. He wondered how she would appear in a gown.
    He wasn’t to find out. She still wore breeches when she came down the stairs.
    As the two sisters passed through the room to go to the kitchen, he said, “Are you convinced I will do you no harm, Charles?”
    She turned and looked at him. “As long as you’re tied to the bed, my lord, I’m entirely convinced.”
    “Afraid to deal with me at liberty, are you?”
    She set her hands on her hips. “Not at all. But why should I bother to try?”
    She was wonderful. “Fair play,” he said amiably. “I have done nothing dishonorable.”
    She smiled. “Helping highwaymen is not precisely honorable, my lord.”
    He smiled with equal insincerity. “My apologies. I didn’t realize
you wanted your neck stretched. I’ll see to it at the first
opportunity.”
    “I know. That’s why you’re spread-eagled.”
    He bit back a laugh. Fencing with her was the best fun he’d had in
months. What a woman. Which gave him a new weapon. “Strange way to tie
a man, this,” he said. “You the sort who likes to ogle other men’s
bodies, young Charles?”
    Prodded by his words, she looked him over and her color flared,
ripping through her disguise. She looked totally female, and an
innocent, flustered female at that. The situation was giving him an
erection.
    “Stop it, both of you,” said Verity, coming at him with a carving
knife. She took in the bulge in his breeches with a mere quirk of her
eyebrows. “I think the man’s quite right,” she said to her sister.
“He’s done nothing to warrant such treatment. He can come and eat with
us.”
    “Verity, stop that!” snapped Charles. But Verity had already cut the
strips of cloth tying Cyn to the bed, and he gratefully swung up into
the vertical, working the numbness out of his wrists.
    “My dear sir,” he said, delighted to be able to fence from a
position of equality, “I appreciate your sister’s kindness, but if you
are the master of this house, shouldn’t you be able to control your
womenfolk a little better?”
    Her eyes flashed. “With a whip, perhaps?”
    Cyn winked at Verity. “Is your sister so unruly?”
    “Oh, do stop it, my lord,” said Verity, though she was struggling
not to laugh. “You’re taunting just to strike sparks. If you carry on
this way, I’ll tie you up again.”
    He raised