Rules of Attraction Read Online Free PDF Page B

should be appropriately grateful. If not for Charlotte, he would be insufferable." She stared down at Dougald as he lolled in his chair, then walked away. If she didn't, she truly would try to box his ears, and she was not so foolish as to think he would suffer such an insult without retaliation. "Charlotte will have told Pamela."
    "Pamela would be Lady Kerrich, I presume."
    She turned on him and her voice rose. "Is there no one in England you didn't confide in?"
    "I believe it is only Lord and Lady Bucknell, Lord and Lady Ruskin, and Lord and Lady Kerrich who know the truth. That is not so many people when compared to the whole population of England." He pointed out the fact calmly, as if the knowledge would pacify her.
    Pacing back to the fireplace, she gripped the mantel so hard the carved marble cut patterns into her palms. "Those are my friends."
    "A close and loyal circle."
    Her friends, especially the ladies Pamela and Charlotte, who now knew she hadn't confided the most significant facts of her life. No doubt they were confused, and perhaps hurt by her lack of faith in them. And… and she couldn't go to them for succor.
    As if he read her mind, he said, "Even if you were to find some way to leave Raeburn Castle— and I assure you, that wouldn't be easy— to seek shelter with your friends would cause friction in their marriages. I don't think you want that."
    Of course, he was right. "I shouldn't have sent you the money. No good deed goes unpunished."
    "It wasn't a good deed," he said with deadpan composure. "You were taunting me with your still-undiscovered existence."
    "No, I wasn't!"
    "Lie to yourself if you must, Hannah, but you knew that money would set me on the trail. Even without your friends'help, I would have found you." He leaned back, steepled his fingers before his face. "How could I not? You started a school. A very successful school for governesses, teachers and companions."
    "I hoped you wouldn't still be looking," she mumbled.
    "Another lie. You knew I would never give up so easily."
    All right. So she had known that sooner or later he would find her. And maybe in the depths of her mind she had thought it would be easier if she didn't have to take the initial steps. To find him, call on him, justify her escape from him, then try and justify her lengthy absence when she knew they had to somehow resolve the issue of their marriage. Her skin crawled at the thought of that interview, and yes, perhaps she had imagined the shock of seeing him without warning would offset the preliminary worry. But he… he didn't have to point that out in such a hateful manner. "I see my mistake now," she said coldly.
    "Very much too late. You had disappeared so effectively I had found no trace of you for eight years." He showed her the number with his fingers. "Eight years, Hannah, and I didn't know if you were alive or dead."
    "I sent word!"
    "Once! I had a letter once from London telling me you were well and not to worry."
    "If I had written you more, you would truly have traced me."
    "You were my wife. Of course I would have traced you! Instead I paid through my nose to a detective to watch for you. Do you know how many times I rushed to London, hoping against hope you'd been found, only to be cruelly disappointed?"
    She shook her head.
    "Nine times." He changed the number of fingers, and Hannah noted they were steady as a rock. "Nine times I rode the train down to the City. I visited whore-houses looking for you, fearing you'd been forced into that dreadful life. In my torment, I imagined you'd become some man's mistress."
    He would think that. "As always, my lord, you imagine me to be nothing but a lock of hair and a female form. I am more than that."
    "Oh, yes, you remind me of the dress shops! I visited thirty dress shops, Hannah. I thought that certainly you would be working in a dress shop or at a milliner's. You weren't. You weren't anywhere."
    "No, I was—"
    "Abroad." He smiled, a showing of white teeth that