The Deepest Sin Read Online Free PDF

filled with spirits.
    Meredith glanced at him and silently accepted the flask held out to her. “Brandy,” he said.
    â€œI would prefer whisky.” Montfort was close to the Scottish border, after all.
    â€œThat’s unfortunate. This will have to do.”
    Without a word, she tipped back the flask, exposing the paleness of her slender neck to his gaze. She let her breath out slowly as the liquid worked its way through her, warming her from the inside out. She put one hand up to her forehead, running her fingers over her brow as if to order her thoughts.
    â€œDid you recognize the men who were trying to assault you?” he asked, still aware of the incongruity of the child’s kaleidoscope now secreted away in his satchel.
    â€œStrange question coming from you,” she replied.
    â€œReally?” The one word came out in a growl.
    â€œYou know damn well what I mean. Let’s first get to the question of your fortuitous appearance here this afternoon.” She settled back against the wall, and took another drink with a hand that shook.
    â€œI find myself with a growing interest in antiquities,” he said with a straight face.
    â€œYou will have to do better, Lord Archer.”
    â€œAll right then, I have always wanted to return to Egypt.”
    â€œYou’re a little long in the tooth for the grand tour.”
    Archer winced dramatically.
    â€œWhen you appeared at Rowena’s wedding, as Rushford’s friend, I knew ... I could tell ...” she said frowning and then trailing off. She handed him the flask, her hand now steady.
    â€œTell what?”
    â€œI prefer not to dissemble, Lord Archer,” she said, forearms resting over her bent knees. “You appeared to me as nothing more than an adventurer, a bounder, someone who chooses to involve himself in one fiasco after another, as an amusement, like a child picking up one toy before discarding it for the next. Clearly, a man of your wealth and disinclination to devote himself to his estates or Parliament finds himself battling boredom to an unconscionable degree.”
    Archer sat down in the dust beside her. His gaze locked on hers as the two of them stared each other down. “Quite the character assassination on such short notice. I spent all of a day and a half with you and your wards, Julia and Rowena, at Montfort. Hardly enough time for you to come to such an astonishing conclusion. I should feel offended,” he added mockingly.
    Meredith let out a breath. “Don’t bother. Why should my regard mean anything to you? We are but acquaintances, ships passing in the night, to use a trite phrase,” she said, making it doubly clear what she thought of their association. “And I already gave you my thanks at the wedding. Both Rowena and Rushford told me of your intervention on their behalf,” she said. Her voice took on an edge of formality.
    He knew his old friend Rushford had told Lady Woolcott very little regarding his involvement with Whitehall and would divulge even less about Archer’s own past. Lady Woolcott would have learned that he was the only living son of an illustrious family whose fortunes he largely ignored, preferring to waste his time on escapades of capriciousness and daring endeavors, including a tour in the Royal Navy, which took him away from England for months at a time. And when he did deign to make an appearance, he was known for his ability at cards, his love of sailing and his discretion in his choice of lovers.
    â€œI do recall, vaguely,” he drawled. “Your words of thanks positively warmed my heart.”
    â€œYou see. This is precisely what I mean. You take nothing seriously, making a mockery of the dangerous situation in which my Rowena found herself. As a man bereft of family, I shouldn’t expect much else.”
    â€œI take it you prefer men of a more serious, sober character.”
    â€œMy preferences in that regard are moot, Lord