No Marriage of Convenience Read Online Free PDF

didn’t usually see a mouth where a tongue had been cut out? Continuing to wave her handkerchief over the lady, she commented, “Why, she seems to be coming to quite nicely.”
    “Oh, my. Oh, my,” Cousin Felicity said, her eyelashes fluttering over her wide brown eyes. She started to sit up, but Lord Ashlin stopped her.
    “Careful, Cousin. You’ve had quite a shock.”
    “Oh, haven’t I!” she said triumphantly, before falling back on the cushions again. “What a tale to tell. I’ve seen Hashim’s mouth! With my very own eyes. Why I’ll be the envy of all my friends. I’ll be the toast for some time.” She reached over and clasped Hashim’s hand, drawing it to her ample bosom. “I will be forever in your debt, sir. Forever.”
    Hashim bowed his head slightly and tried to extract himself from her grasp, but it appeared Cousin Felicity was not about to let go of her newfound hero.
    Riley’s lips twitched with amusement at Hashim’s obvious discomfort, until Lord Ashlin came to his rescue.
    “Cousin Felicity, release Mr. Hashim.”
    The woman did, though with a great sigh of reluctance.
    Hashim fled to his post behind Riley’s chair. Following Hashim’s example, Riley retook her seat, carefully posing herself to her best advantage, head tipped, chest up, and posture straight.
    Back in an upright position, Cousin Felicity adjusted her spectacles. “Oh, Madame Fontaine, it is such an honor to have you in our house.” The woman turned, her white lace cap fluttering. “Mason, Madame does not make social visits, so we must count ourselves very lucky indeed.”
    “Well this is hardly a social call, my lady,” Riley explained to her. “However, on some of my business matters, I find a personal touch makes the transaction go so much more smoothly,” she added, her statement directed with a smile and a demure nod at Lord Ashlin.
    It was one of her better poses, one she’d used with great skill in Romeo & Juliet , yet the man seemed unaffected.
    Cousin Felicity, meanwhile, continued peering at her as if she were on display. “Oh, I can see now why they call you ‘Aphrodite’s Envy.’” She turned to Lord Ashlin. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mason? Isn’t Madame Fontaine the most tempting woman who’s ever graced the world?”
    He looked very much like Hashim had just a few moments ago. “Yes, cousin. Madame Fontaine is tolerably pretty.”
    Tolerably pretty ?
    Riley didn’t know if she should be insulted or wonder if Lord Ashlin needed new spectacles.
    One called sallow-faced debutantes with large dowries and title-hunting mothers tolerable .
    Pretty described whey-faced dairymaids fresh from the country.
    Never once since she’d taken the London stage and been dubbed “Aphrodite’s Envy” by the young bucks of London had anyone described her as “tolerably pretty.”
    Her vanity, now that she had grown used to being the recipient of sonnets and tokens of affection, found itself pricked at Lord Ashlin’s vague praise.
    Tolerably pretty, and from an Ashlin, no less! Rakes, reprobates, and wanton flatterers, the entire lot of them. And great patrons of the arts, well, rather actresses, opera singers, and ballet dancers.
    What had happened to this one? Riley wondered.
    He held the sharp look of a Lloyd’s advisor, able to add a column of numbers in his sleep. After all, she only wanted to make a down payment on the money she owed him, not let on that he was due a lot more.
    Money she didn’t have.
    And much to her growing irritation, he’d picked up precisely the page he’d just set aside moments before. As she watched him scan the document with an efficient gleam, her pulse raced. Perhaps after he threw them out into the streets, she and the company could stage a play dedicated to him— The Curate and the Actress .
    It would do well in the country, she thought, as she watched with a sinking heart as one of his brows rose with an elegant arch and a smile curved at his lips.
    Oh, she was in