Pure Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page A

reaches of the old house caught her attention. She looked askance at Jack.
    “Someone is at the door,” Jack said in response to her unasked question. “Pettibone will see to it. He’s the jack-of-all-trades around here. Couldn’t exist without him. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, I was about to ask if you have any preferences as to a maid.”
    Moira was on the verge of denying her need for a maidwhen Lord Fenwick burst into the chamber unannounced. “Ah, I see our little patient is alert this morning. Have you told her yet, Jack?”
    Spence looked like a cat who had just swallowed a canary.
    “Tell me what?” Moira asked sharply. Just what did Black Jack and his friend have in mind for her? Judging from the guilty expression on Jack’s face, it had to be something devious.
    Jack sent Spence a blistering look. “Bloody hell, Spence, do you always speak without thinking? I haven’t said a word yet to Miss O’Toole, but I would have come around to it eventually.”
    Moira certainly didn’t like the sound of that. “I don’t believe I’ll stay after all.” Had she jumped from the frying pan into the fire? She started to climb out of bed but remembered she was wearing naught but a threadbare shift. It suddenly occurred to her that if Jack Graystoke had no maid, then he must have undressed her himself. Her face flamed scarlet and she jerked the covers up to her neck.
    “We mean you no harm, Miss O’Toole,” Jack assured her, though he could see she wasn’t convinced. “What my precipitous friend here wanted to know was did I mention to you a plan we had discussed concerning your future.”
    “Plan? Why should you care about my future? I’m not…” she gulped, unwilling to say the word aloud, “what you think.” Moira could tell by the way Jack talked that he thought her a fallen woman.
    “It matters not one whit what you are, Miss O’Toole. As for your future, I told you I have assumed full responsibility for your accident. I merely want to right a wrong. There is nothing evil in my intent, so don’t reject something that could benefit you greatly. Hear me out.”
    What choice did she have? Moira wondered. She was injured and helpless in a strange bed, in a strange house, wearing naught but her shift. She had no money, nowhere to liveand no one to turn to for help. So far, Sir Jack Graystoke had made no demands on her, had in fact accepted full responsibility for her “accident” and offered amends. The least she could do was listen with an open mind.
    “Very well, Sir Graystoke, what is this plan you and Lord Fenwick have devised for me?”
    “First let me explain. Spence is in line for a dukedom and will do nothing to damage his reputation. He’s a marquess in his own right. Thank God I do not aspire to so noble a rank. My young cousin, Ailesbury, is welcome to the title.”
    “Get on with it, Jack,” Spence nagged. “I’m sure Miss O’Toole has no interest in my family tree or your lack of title.”
    “Sorry. I merely wanted to impress upon Miss O’Toole that we mean her no harm.” He turned to Moira, impaling her with the gray intensity of his eyes. “Since you are temporarily unemployable, Miss O’Toole, with no prospects of future work, Spence and I have come up with a solution to your dilemma.”
    Moira’s warm golden gaze settled disconcertingly on Jack, making him decidedly uncomfortable. “I refuse to be used for vile purposes. Others have tried and failed.”
    Jack stared at her through narrowed lids. What in bloody hell did she mean by that remark? What vile purposes was she referring to? “My dear Miss O’Toole, Spence and I have no designs on your person. You are perfectly safe with us.”
    Moira looked skeptical but gave him the benefit of the doubt. “Go on, sir, I’m listening.”
    “If you agree to the little escapade Spence and I propose, I can promise you a grand adventure. Moreover, if it works out as we expect, you will never have to worry about money again.