Once Tempted Read Online Free PDF Page A

she’d murdered the agent who’d tried to stop them.
    No wonder Pymm had such a keen interest in finding her.
    “Wellington knew all this?” Robert asked.
    Pymm nodded. “Now you see why you were chosen.”
    Wellington had known that once Robert learned Miss Sutton lived, nothing would stand in the way of his finding her and bringing her to justice. “Damn her traitorous hide.” Robert slammed his fist down on the table.
    Pymm scrambled to right his tottering drink. “Yes, like father, like daughter,” he said in what could be called companionable agreement, but there was an underlying tone to the man’s words that suggested he wasn’t quite sure.
    Robert eyed him but decided not to press his suspicions. “What do you suggest?”
    “The same tack that worked the last time,” Pymm said, his words sharp and sure for a man who looked well into his cups. “You join forces with the girl.”
    “And how will I do that, when no one knows where she is?”
    “My suspicion is that she’ll find you. And when she does, court the girl, lull her once again into your confidence. Seduce her if you have to, just get what we need.”
    “Seduce her ?” Robert shook his head. “Are you mad?”
    Pymm rose from his seat. “No, just practical.”
    Robert followed suit, and the two men went to the door. Once outside, Robert asked the other man, “Suppose I do find her and get what we need from her. Then what do I do with her?”
    Pymm smiled, a cold, bitter twist to his mouth. “Whatever you consider fair revenge.”

Chapter 2
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Finch Manor
    The Kent countryside
    “K eates! Keates, where are you, you faithless girl?” Lady Finch clamored and bellowed from her wheelchair, the one she’d confined herself to for over twenty years and honestly didn’t need. “I want to see those London papers Jemmy brought down from town this morning before Lord Finch carts them off to his potting shed.”
    Her ladyship’s tirade was punctuated by the clanging of a cowbell she kept at the ready for those trying situations when it seemed the entire house ignored her.
    Keates, the target of Lady Finch’s tirade and her hired companion, hurried down the front staircase in answer to her mistress’s strident cries.
    Most of the servants felt it a cursed shame that such a kindly woman had not only been widowed at such a young age but had been left with no choice but to work for such a harridan.
    But then again, they all felt much that way about their own positions in the Finch household.
    At the bottom of the stairs, Mrs. Keates was met by Lord and Lady Finch’s only child and heir, Mr. James Reyburn. The pride and joy of Finch Manor, Jemmy, as he was affectionately called by one and all, cast a furtive glance down the hall toward the room where his mother held court and was currently bellowing out another chorus of demands for the newly arrived papers.
    “The old bird is in rare form this morning,” he whispered as loudly as he dared. Even at nineteen, Jemmy still regarded his mother with an unholy terror. That probably explained why the young man hightailed it back to London every chance he could. “Got to warn you, she’s in one of her moods. She’s been calling for you and the papers ever since she heard me ride up.”
    Mrs. Keates sighed. “And why didn’t you just deliver them?”
    “Me?” Jemmy asked in mock disbelief. “And face the dragon before dinner? Not bloody likely.” The cowbell clamored again. He winked at her and held up the bundle of posts, newspapers and cards he’d brought down from town, while in his other hand a pair of pistols dangled. “Why not ignore her and come shooting with me? For old times’ sake.”
    Mrs. Keates smiled at the handsome young man. When she had first arrived at Finch Manor, Jemmy had been only twelve, and such outings had been quite acceptable. But in the last few years, she had tried to put a distance on their once chummy relationship.
    It was better for