Rules of Passion Read Online Free PDF

would never have what Vivianna had right now. The heart of one man.
    She had come to London to be of help to her sister during her confinement, and to assist her afterwards with household matters. Lady Greentree was to have come herself, and in fact had been ready to do so, until she had an unfortunate accident. Two weeks ago, she tripped and fell down some stairs, and wrenched her ankle. Although the ankle was not broken, she was unable to walk, and a journey by coach to London had been out of the question. Even if she had been able to travel, of what possible use could she be,hobbling about? So she had handed the task over to Marietta, a little reluctantly to be sure—Lady Greentree did not like letting her second daughter out of her sight, not since Gerard Jones, and London was a long way from her watchful gaze. Marietta, with strict instructions as to what she could and couldn’t do, and with Mr. Jardine as her companion, came to take her mama’s place at Berkley Square.
    Vivianna was very glad to see her.
    “Oh Marietta, thank you for coming to be with me. I have missed you so!” It was nice, Marietta had thought, to be appreciated, even if she knew her sister was a little overwrought because of her condition. And she intended to do her duty, of course she did! But now she was finally in London, Marietta also meant to make the most of it. She had plans of her own, and one of them had been the ascent in the gas balloon. The other…Well, that was something both Vivianna and Lady Greentree had expressly forbidden.
    Marietta planned to visit Aphrodite at her home, the famous Aphrodite’s Club. And she planned to ask Aphrodite for her help.
    “You are not to go there under any circumstances,” Vivianna, knowing Marietta’s adventurous and impulsive nature, had spoken to her on the matter. “Are you listening to me, Marietta? Mama has forbidden it, and if Uncle William Tremaine were to hear of it…” She shuddered at the image of Lady Greentree’s brother discovering yet another scandal in the family. “He already considers you beyond redemption. You should concentrate on showing him how good and obedient you can be.”
    “When did you begin to care what Uncle Williamsaid and thought?” she asked her sister, trying not to be hurt by her words. “Besides I am beyond redemption.”
    “Nonsense! There are gentlemen here in London who have never heard of your…your misfortune. Oliver says he can find several who will be very interested in offering for you.”
    Marietta bit her lip to stop herself from saying what she thought about that. Vivianna probably believed she was doing her sister a good turn—as the eldest she had always tried to look after them, ever since they were kidnapped from Aphrodite as children and later abandoned on Lady Greentree’s estate, where she had found them and taken them in. But the idea that Marietta would need Oliver’s help and persuasion to find herself a husband—probably some old man with lecherous eyes—made her feel ill. She was twenty-one now and the scandal had set her well and truly on the shelf. She had no intention of allowing Vivianna to boss her about just to avoid Uncle William’s displeasure. Particularly when she knew that same older sister had visited Aphrodite’s Club, incognito, when she was of a similar age.
    Marietta took one more look at Vivianna and Oliver, admired their new son, and slipped out of the bedchamber. Mr. Jardine was waiting at the head of the stairs, his blue eyes anxious, his graying hair standing on end as though he had been running his hands through it.
    “A son,” she said, with a smile to set his mind at ease. “And everyone is very well.”
    His face sagged in relief. Mr. Jardine had been with the Greentree family for so long that they always thought of him as one of them. He had come toGreentree Manor shortly after Lady Greentree’s soldier husband, Edward, had died in India, and Marietta and her two sisters had been found