Regency 02 - Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

a great favorite
with the gentlemen and the green room was always full to
overflowing with her admirers, often men who wanted no more than a
glimpse of the exotic beauty.
    She was Miss Raven Emerson, The Ebony
Swan.
    It was her role as Juliet that made her
really famous. She was Juliet. She made every audience
member feel her blossoming awareness of first love, her desperation
to be with her love despite all odds, her despair and confusion
over her cousin’s death at the hands of her love, her sudden loss
and anguish at her dearest Romeo’s passing, and ultimately, her own
release in death.
    It was not very often that true beauty and
natural talent converged in one person on the stage but Raven was
that perfect entity. She was tall—only a head shorter than Adam who
was over six feet tall. Her hair was glossy black, straight, and
silky. She never wore it up, not even at home. She had dark, nearly
black eyes that tilted slightly giving her an exotic look.
Delicately arched brows and long black lashes made her eyes stand
out even more than they normally would have. Her nose was in
perfect proportion to her face and her mouth was made for kissing
with a fuller bottom lip and a slightly thinner top one. She was
naturally graceful in movement and with every spoken word she
managed to captivate man and woman alike, even her fellow
actors.
    Adam knew he was not the only man who found
her appearance irresistibly seductive. Baxter had been after her
since before Adam had even known of her existence. Raven had
confided that the man was one of the few gentlemen who accosted her
regularly that refused to take no for an answer.
    Adam had never cared whether or not she was
faithful to him, but he had always had the feeling that she was.
Even Baxter’s words failed to rouse his anger with Raven. It did,
however, rouse his anger at Baxter. Prestwich was tempted to call
the man out and have done with the whole damnable situation.
    “I imagine she kept herself suitably
entertained. And since you ask, she was obviously wise enough not
to have been with you,” he said equably. “And now, I really must
go.”

Chapter Five

    Raven kept rooms near the theater for
convenience sake although Adam knew she had the wherewithal to buy
a house if she wished. His offer to set her up in a quaint little
house on the outskirts of Town had been turned down with a smile
and assurances that she was quite comfortable right where she was.
She was frugal with her money and unlike most courtesans, she knew
the wisdom of saving for a rainy day, or in her case, her
retirement from the theater. He admitted to a reluctant admiration
of her because of this.
    He walked into her little sitting room where
he knew she would be at this time of day. She usually practiced her
lines there with the help of her little maid, Molly. He waited
patiently until Molly was dismissed before he approached the
actress.
    Raven smiled at him, delighted to see him, as
usual. He wondered if she ever thought he might marry her. She had
never in any way indicated that she felt he should or would, but
how was he to know what actually went on in the woman’s head? She
was, after all, a woman. Didn’t they all cherish hopes of
matrimony?
    When she saw the look on his face, Raven took
his hand and led him out and up the stairs to her bedchamber. She
normally did not like to indulge in sexual activity so close to the
time when she had to be at the theater, but she sensed in Adam the
need for a release and she was more than willing to oblige him.
    He had, after all, been the one to introduce
her to the fine art of lovemaking. It had been against her earliest
decisions to take a protector. But that was before she learned of
the unpredictability of receiving her pay for working at the
playhouse.
    And that was before she had met Adam
Prestwich. He had not attempted to turn her head with the empty
flattery that she so often received from other gentlemen. But the
admiration was clear in his eyes