Scarborough Fair Read Online Free PDF

blood boil…”
    â€œNever mind.” She pulled him to her, carefully lowering his head onto the soft cushion of her breasts, only thinly disguised by the negligee. Rocking him like a child, she billed and cooed, stroking his head. “I have an idea.”
    â€œ Oui , yes,” he murmured.
    Her mind was working overtime. “You have a privateer, don’t you?”
    â€œ L’Union ?”
    She snorted. A fitting name. “Why not offer her to Captain Jones?”
    Donatien jerked up his head, struggling for freedom from the nest of her arms. “What? Let that upstart of a colonist command one of my ships? I would never dream of it! He would wreck her on some wild scheme. He is a maniac…” His voice trailed away as he studied his wife’s tolerant smile. After a moment his mouth relaxed and widened into a grin. “You sly little vixen. You want me to give him a ship to get him out of my way at the ministry. And of course, you think what is one ship when my whole fleet stands to be lost for the sake of a navy contract? And if I do M’sieur Sartine a favor by ridding him of the American, so when I renegotiate the supply contract, I should get even better terms.”
    Therese said nothing, just gave him the beauty of her smile before lowering his head again to her bosom. This time he came easily, tension dispelled by the implanting of the idea. He sighed in contentment.
    â€œYou always manage, Therese, to make it seem so simple.”
    â€œThat’s all I am,” she purred. “A simple woman who wants to help her husband.”
    â€œAnd you do,” he said, curling an arm about her narrow waist. He turned his face, pressing into the fragrance of her breasts. “You help me by just being you. Just being here for me to look at.” Both his hands were roving now, plucking and smoothing the thin material that displayed every contour of her body. “Just by touching you.” He pulled back from her, then with fumbling fingers parted the gown to devour her creamy flesh with his eyes. “And you smell so wonderful.”
    His face was again red, this time with excitement. Lust garnished his eyes, his mouth working with anticipation. He surveyed the plain of her stomach with his fingers, stroking tentatively before impatience urged them toward her center. Gently, she placed a restraining hand over his.
    â€œMy husband, you must be warm wearing those clothes. I think you would be cooler without them.”
    He laughed and struggled to his feet, eagerly unbuttoning his waistcoat. “Again, Therese, you are right.”
    She laughed with him, but there was no warmth in her eyes.
    ***

    The Hotel Valentinois boasted a vast library. But for the door and windows, the long walls were clothed with towering bookcases. Footsteps from the blocked floor echoed among the plaster relief friezes of the high ceiling before being soaked up by the thousands of calf-bound volumes. It was not a study where a man could wallow comfortably among his papers. For all its worth the showcase library was austere and forbidding, containing none of its owner’s character.
    Donatien Le Ray Chaumont sat at the huge desk, his fingers tapping noiselessly on the leather surface. Opposite, in his uniform as always, Paul Jones sat on a straight-backed chair. He held a glass of burgundy as he listened to the older man. De Chaumont made an expansive gesture. “…and so you see, Captain, I know of your difficulty regarding the acquisition of a command. This is why I am offering L’Union , my own privateer. You may sail her against the English and do as you wish with her.” Paul Jones said nothing, leaving de Chaumont to interpret his silence as speculation. The Frenchman raised what he hoped was a conspiratorial smile. “I can see you are wondering why I should do this. Is that not so? I will put your mind at rest. As you know, I own a fleet of merchantmen. Any