No Man's Mistress Read Online Free PDF

flushed. But before he could continue, the door opened and the parlormaid brought in a tray of coffee and set it down in front of Viola before bobbing a curtsy and leaving. Viola poured two cups and rose to set one down on the table beside Lord Ferdinand. He watched her in silence.
    “Look here, ma'am,” he blurted as she resumed her seat. “Has Bamber not written to you either?”
    “The Earl of Bamber?” She stared at him in surprise.
    “I beg your pardon, ma'am,” he continued, “but Pinewood is no longer his, you see. It is mine. As of two weeks ago.”
    “Yours?” What
was
this? “But that is impossible, my lord. Pinewood Manor is mine. It has been for almost two years.”
    He reached into an inner pocket of his riding coat to draw out a folded sheet of paper, which he held out to her. “Here is the deed to the manor. It is now officially in my name. I am sorry.”
    She looked at it blankly without reaching for it, andfoolishly all she could think of was that she had been mistaken. He had
not
come to call on her. At least, not because of yesterday. The contest for her daisies, the dance about the maypole, the kiss beneath the old oak had meant nothing whatsoever to him. Today he had come with the intention of ousting her from her home.
    “It is a worthless piece of paper,” she told him through lips that felt suddenly stiff. “The Earl of Bamber has made off with the price you paid for it, Lord Ferdinand, and is laughing at you from some safe distance. I suggest you find him and take up the matter with him.” She felt the stirring of anger—and fright.
    “There is nothing to take up,” Lord Ferdinand told her. “The legality of the document is not in question, ma'am. It has been attested to by both Bamber's solicitor and my brother's—he is the Duke of Tresham. I was careful to verify the authenticity of my winnings.”
    “Winnings?”
Oh, yes, of course. She knew his type-yes, indeed she did. He was the brother of the Duke of Tresham, with all of a younger son's weaknesses and vices—boredom, shiftlessness, extravagance, insensitiv-ity, arrogance. He was probably impoverished too. But yesterday she had chosen to be beguiled by a handsome face and a virile male body, and to be flattered by his attentions. He was a gambler of the very worst kind, one who played deep without any concern for the human consequences of his addiction. He had won property that was not even his opponent's to lose.
    “At cards,” he explained. “There are any number of witnesses to the fact that Pinewood was fairly won. And I
did
have the document checked very thoroughly. I am indeed sorry for this inconvenience to you. I had no idea there was someone living here.”
    Inconvenience!
    Viola leaped to her feet, her cheeks flooding with hot color, her eyes flashing. How dare he!
    “You may take your
document
with you and toss it into the river as you leave,” she said. “It is worthless. Pinewood Manor was willed to me almost two years ago. The Earl of Bamber may not have liked it, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Good day to you, my lord.”
    But Lord Ferdinand Dudley, although he too got to his feet, made no move to leave the room and her life, as any decent gentleman would have done. He stood before the fireplace looking large and unyielding and unsmiling. All his false geniality had been abandoned.
    “On the contrary, ma'am,” he said, “it is you who are going to have to leave. I will, of course, grant you sufficient time to gather your belongings and arrange for a destination, since Bamber has not seen fit to give you decent notice. You are a relative of his, are you? I suppose you should go to Bamber Court, then, unless somewhere else leaps to mind. He will hardly refuse you admittance, will he, though I daresay he is still in London. His mother lives there all the time, though, I believe. She will doubtless welcome you.”
    His words filled her with icy terror. Her nostrils flared. “Let me