Sinful (Hot Regency Romance Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

promised he would not
hurt her, or Rose, if she behaved —which meant if she did
every foul thing he wanted her to do.
    All those years she’d spent in the stews had
not been for nothing. She’d known he didn’t intend to leave
witnesses afterward, whether she obeyed him or not. So she had
fought for her life. Rose had come in, only eight years of age, and
had slammed a frying pan over his head.
    Now Estelle kicked and struggled just as
furiously. She had her scissors in her hand—
    A strong hand pulled them out of her grip. “I
wouldn’t like those stabbed into my privates, thank you.”
    Lyan. He turned her to face him. “You
wretch!” she spat. “You terrified me. You could have woken up Rose.
She went through this before and it almost frightened her to death.
I—”
    “What do you mean, she went through this
before?” His voice was like ice, his eyes glittering as hard as
emeralds.
    When she didn’t answer, he kissed her. Just
like that. His mouth devoured hers. All her fear and rage tumbled
around inside her but, even as furious as she was with him, she
grew hot. Scorching hot. So much so, she feared her simple work
dress would melt to her skin.
    “Tell me, or I won’t stop there.” Then he
grimaced at his words, and he brushed his hand over her cheek. “No,
no threats. Threatening you with kisses won’t work any more, will
it? Because you’ve known worse. Tell me what happened, Sal. I’ll
kill anyone who hurt you or your daughter.”
    Through the heat rising inside her, a heat
that fogged her mind like steam upon glass, she remembered the
painful truth. She had abandoned him in a panic ten years before.
Earlier, she’d discovered he hadn’t forgotten, and he certainly
hadn’t forgiven. Why should he care about her now? She had put her
security above all else, and the simple fact he still gave a damn
made her throat constrict. “Well, then,” she managed to say, “that
is exactly the reason I can’t tell you.”
    His hands traced the simple neckline of her
dress. Her breasts seemed to swell and tingle under her shift as
his fingertips skimmed over them. Her nipples hardened as though
begging for his caress. Then, shock of all shocks, he cupped her
bosom with both hands.
    “I want all your secrets, Sally. Every last
one.” He breathed the words against her ear. The fire he’d ignited
inside her consumed another piece of the wall around her soul. Just
this, his hands on her breasts, his mouth nuzzling her neck, could
leave her utterly defenseless.
    No. She would be like her mother, then.
Vulnerable. What was a woman in the throes of passion but a woman
waiting to be destroyed?
    She couldn’t surrender anything to Lyan, not
one little piece of her—and definitely not her heart—when she knew
she could never hope to claim his love in return.
    “You know who Lady Maryanne ran away with,”
he murmured, his breath sinfully hot against her ear. Just the
brush of it along her earlobe made her quiver.
    She had been unwilling to use these weapons
against him. Apparently, he had no such scruples. And, try as she
might, she couldn’t will the ice back into her body.
    “This afternoon, I interviewed families of
young ladies who have been your customers,” he continued, in his
rich, deep, sensual voice. “Four of them ran away to Gretna Green
with men.”
    “Those marriages are all successes,” she said
tartly. She tried to pull away but he held her too tightly.
    His tongue ran up and down her throat. Her
mind was becoming as mushy as porridge. “S—stop.”
    “I will if you give me a name. A man’s name.”
His grip changed and he stopped kissing her. He faced her, his eyes
bright and hard with determination. “I fear Cavell arranged for
Maryanne to disappear. He found out about her plans to elope, and
he had her killed so he would not lose control of her money. By the
will, he gets it all if she dies without a husband or
children.”
    Estelle gulped. “Oh yes, he could do that,
Lyan. He