The Abduction of Julia Read Online Free PDF

unappreciated servitude. Your cousin and aunt expect you to wait on their every whim, to give up what you have left of your youth. They spare no thought of you or your comfort. And for what? An attic room with no fire and a few cast-off gowns?”
    “I don’t have an attic room,” she said stiffly, though her hand made a telltale motion toward her worn dress. “Aunt Lydia has been nothing but kind to me since I—”
    “Kind? Being asked to sit among the chaperones, as if you were a little countrified nobody? A spinster on the shelf? How old are you, Julia?”
    “Seven-and-twenty,” Julia replied reluctantly, wishing he would stop. Her life was no fairy tale, but it was productive and useful. And with her new position in the Society, she could make even more of a difference.
    He advanced on her, a heady combination of masculine beauty and bold determination. “You are young yet, Julia. Only think what it could be like. Gowns and jewels. Your own coach. Servants to wait on your every whim.” His voice dropped to a seductive murmur.
    “Think of all the projects you could fund if you had the money.”
    The man had a dangerous knack for finding one’s weaknesses and exploiting them to the fullest. After a stilted moment, she asked, “How much will I get?”
    A faint smile curved his mouth. “Ten thousand a year, to do with as you wish.”
    “No,” she heard herself answer calmly. “I want half.”
    Alec’s smile slipped. “What?”
    “You heard me. Half.” And she would spend every last penny on the Society. Her own pain lessened as she thought of all the good she could accomplish with such a sum.
    Alec looked stunned. “But we will have a household to maintain, and a—”
    “We can do nicely on fifteen thousand a year. More than nicely—lavishly, in fact.”
    “That leaves me only twenty thousand pounds!”
    “And what do you need with that much?”
    His face hardened, the lines about his mouth deepening. “You greedy little witch,” he said softly. “You are not so different from Therese, after all.”
    The words flicked across her like live coals, but Julia held her ground. “Therese attempted to trick you from getting the fortune. I am helping you.”
    His mouth went white with rage. “Helping me? By taking half? This is ludicrous! I have expenses you know nothing about.”
    “I know enough.” She regarded him through her lashes, suddenly struck by the enormous opportunity that dangled within reach. There were more lost souls in the world than those assisted by the Society. Julia had thought for many months now that perhaps, just perhaps, Alec needed rescuing as well. But just like many of the women from the Society, he didn’t realize it.
    Julia lifted her chin and prepared to do battle. “According to what you’ve told me of this will, you have to join the strict confines of the
ton
and live without scandal.” Her heart pounded like a drum against her chest. “For an entire year.”
    His stare hardened. “So?”
    “So you won’t need money for gambling or any other disreputable activities.”
    “What disreputable activities?” he demanded.
    “Opera dancers,” she answered succinctly.
    He looked as if his cravat had suddenly become too tight. “I cannot believe you listen to such vile gossip.”
    “Or actresses,” she continued undaunted, “or mistresses of any kind.”
    “Who told you—what—” he sputtered, anger sparkling in his eyes.
    “It doesn’t matter. I heard it.”
    He leveled a glare that should have singed the edges of her pelisse. “For your information, I happen to be between mistresses at the moment.”
    “How convenient. In a year, you may have as many as you please.” It was harder to say that one sentence than she would have thought possible, but somehow she managed to make it sound natural.
    “Damn you,” he swore, his eyes a stormy gray, as bottomless as the roiling ocean.
    She could see he wanted to argue, but couldn’t. And Julia realized that