Perilous Risk Read Online Free PDF Page B

tears. She was just expected to take his generous congé and go away. Make no trouble. No distasteful scenes. No inconvenient complications.
    I am older now. Too old for love. Certainly too wise.
    She swallowed several times then straightened her spine. What was the matter with her? For so long, she had pushed all of these useless feelings down and devoted herself to minding her father’s shop.
    But of late, all her tightly tucked emotional corners seemed to be coming undone. Their seams popping open all over the place.
    Well, surely she still had some dignity? She shook herself and then searched her bookshelf and retrieved several volumes. Yet, walking back into the storefront, she caught sight of Lady Ruel, so dark and exotically beautiful and lushly figured, standing so tall and true, like royalty. It made that lump in her throat burn hotter and Rebecca paused to swallow several times.
    Accepting donations was the main way that Rebecca financed the midwifery and charity that she gave poor women. If that meant placating a few difficult ladies from time to time, then she would do what she had to do.
    How was she to deal with her own feelings in regard to her former lover’s wife?
    With an ache settling into her stomach, Rebecca took a deep breath and then returned to the counter with the additional books. She stood as tall as she might, but honestly she’d always been a little intimidated by women who were taller.
    Lady Ruel stared back at her with a glacial expression.
    All right. She was quite intimidated by taller, statuesque women.
    With age, wisdom is supposed to come. Act your age. Keep your dignity.
    Rebecca’s face grew tight, as though the clay of her forced pleasant mask had suddenly hardened and might crack under the strain. “Is little Jonny still suffering with the colic?”
    Lady Ruel nodded. She seemed to speak as little as humanly possible.
    As though us mortals aren’t worthy of the effort.
    Rebecca forced the uncharitable thought down and sought to fill the uneasy quiet. “This herbal mix really does work wonders for colic. I used it with my own son. But it may be harder to get him to take it, it is quite bitter compared to the other.”
    “You promise that it works?”
    “Oh yes, it works. It is just getting it down the gullet that may prove a tricky feat.” Rebecca put a lighter note in her voice and all the force of her charm into her smile.
    The lady stared back at her with that same icy air.
    Oh, Lord. What ever had possessed Jon to choose such a cold, haughty woman for a wife?
    Well, the answer was plain. It had been her exquisite dark beauty and voluptuous form, her wealth, her noble blood and yes, her youth.
    But today, on closer inspection, Lady Ruel’s visage didn’t appear so intimidatingly perfect. Purple crescents lay under her reddened eyes and her complexion was bit sallow.
    Despite herself, Rebecca felt a twinge of sympathy. Three births in four years, no wonder the lady appeared worn. Young noblewomen were under such incredible pressure to produce the required males for their husbands’ family lines.
    “It will work.” Rebecca made her smile broader. “And he will sleep. I guarantee it.”
    The other woman’s rigidly held shoulders suddenly dropped. “Very well, I’ll try it,” Lady Ruel said, without having once glanced at the other books.
    That was surprising. She’d never before been that easily persuaded.
    Another, stronger twinge of sympathy softened Rebecca’s heart. Who could blame the lady for her heightened vigilance? The first two children born into Lloyd House had been healthy, lovely little girls. Unfortunately, the Ruel heir had been born weak and had fought hard against a virulent respiratory fever in his first weeks. Yet he had managed to cling to his fragile thread of life and day-by-day was gradually gaining strength.
    Rebecca put the little glass bottles into a box. “Will there be anything else today, my lady?”
    “No.” Anne Lloyd shook her head,