Pleasuring the Lady (The Pleasure Wars) Read Online Free PDF

sort, haven’t we?”
    He nodded, still troubled by her expression and odd demeanor. “I would like to think we have been. We have certainly known each other a long while.”
    She nodded, silent and again, he was ripped back to thoughts of another lady who had merely nodded or shook her head in answer to his questions.
    “Portia,” he murmured.
    She glanced up at him and he saw her try to put on a façade for him. “I assume you must be looking for my brother at any rate,” she said, her tone suddenly falsely bright. “Hammond is here somewhere, though I have not seen him since we arrived an hour ago.”
    He saw her lip twitch ever so slightly.
    “No, I—well you know Cosslow and I are not particularly close any longer,” Miles said. “Portia, are you well?”
    Her lips pursed briefly and then she shrugged. “Of course.”
    But he could see that even though she pretended, there was something troubling her. And for some reason, that knowledge bothered him.
    “May I make a suggestion?” he said, moving a little closer.  
    He had never noticed before how interesting her appearance was. With her wide-set, deep brown eyes and angular face, her looks were not the rage. Certainly there was nothing flashy about her to draw attention to her especially. But there was no denying she could be described as lovely, especially in certain lights and angles.
    She shifted away slightly. “A suggestion?”
    He nodded. “I think you should do something entirely irresponsible. Something that is pure fun and only for you. No one will ever expect it, Portia.”
    She stared at him for a long moment, her face unreadable. He expected her to smile or laugh or even tell him to stop teasing her. But instead, she turned away.
    “It must be very nice to have such an easy life, Miles,” she said, her tone low and hard. “I envy you. Good night.”
    He stared, frozen in place by her unexpected accusation, as she walked away into the crowd. He moved to follow her, but there was a touch at his elbow and he turned to find one of those wretched mamas staring up at him.
    “Lord Weatherfield, what a pleasure it is to see you! Surely you remember my daughter, Rebecca.”
    He didn’t answer for a moment, still stuck in the reaction he unexpectedly had to Portia. Then he shook it off and forced himself to focus on the rather horse-faced heiress who had been presented to him.
    “Ah yes, Lady Rebecca,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound like a groan. “What a… pleasure to see you and your lovely mother again.”
     
     
    Portia toed her slippers off and stretched her aching feet. Lord, how she hated a ball, especially one she’d been forced to attend under the watchful eye of her brother. It had been an entirely unpleasant evening.
    Except for a few moments when Miles approached her.  
    Initially she had felt nothing more than abject terror at the idea he had realized she was the woman he had kissed at the masquerade, but quickly it had become clear his attention had nothing to do with that night. Why that fact caused her a twinge of disappointment, she could not rightly say.
    “Foolish girl,” she admonished herself as she slipped from her room and stood before her mother’s door.  
    Potts had informed her that her mother had been quiet all night, still dull from the effects of whatever drugs she had been given by Hammond and his lackey.
    She opened the door and stepped inside. Her mother was propped up on her pillows, reading a book. When the door opened, she glanced up and offered a weak smile for her daughter.
    “Hello, darling,” her mother said, setting the book aside. “How was your evening?”
    Portia swallowed hard as she moved to sit in a chair beside her mother’s bed. “It was much the same as any other,” she lied. “I am more worried about how you feel.”
    Her mother’s face paled slightly. Although she never remembered all the worst moments of her episodes, she often said she had flashes from those horrible