The Romantic Read Online Free PDF Page B

for a while. He would bring her along slowly, and she would learn well enough.
    He turned away. Within moments the woman and the pleasure were out of his mind and body. He left the chamber to find Caesar waiting in the corridor.
    Caesar was not in his livery, so he must have been roused from his bed by another servant. A dark mulatto, Caesar obeyed all orders with precision. He showed no fear of reprisal for this interruption, however. He remained expressionless as always, a demeanor that reflected the dull mind in the dark head.
    It was also a reflection of the changes twenty years could make in a country’s sense of rights and privilege. There had been a time when Caesar would have had good cause for fear, but those days had been slipping away most of Glasbury’s life and were over for good now.
    More’s the pity
    “He came back,” Caesar said. “A groom heard him in the garden and came and woke me.”
    “He is alone?”
    “Just him.”
    Damn.
    “Where is he?”
    “The library.”
    “Return to your chamber. I will not need you anymore.”
    Glasbury returned to his dressing room where his pleasure slave was struggling to close her dress.
    He did not aid her. “Go down in a few minutes.”
    He made his own way through the silent house to the library where the man waited.
    The visitor sat on a sofa. He was round faced and bland in countenance, and insignificant in presence and size. One had to look closely to even notice this man existed. The ability to be unseen was one of his great talents.
    He looked over with eyes that could reveal a deep cunning if the anonymous mask slipped.
    “She was not there,” he said simply.
    “She had to be. The person who saw her knows her well. Veil or not, the identification was not likely to be wrong.”
    “I said she was not there when I went for her. I did not say she never was there. I found a night servant who says a lady of her description, always veiled, was a guest there for a few days. But she is gone now, and her trunks were moved just this night. I must have missed that by an hour, no more.”
    Glasbury barely contained his anger. The little bitch had slipped away again.
    He would find her, however. He would no longer tolerate the way she had repudiated his rights. He would no longer bear the humiliation she had heaped on him with her willfulness. He certainly would not stand still while she used his name to promote revolting ideas that directly insulted him.
    He no longer needed to.
    “Where did the trunks go?”
    “The manager said he does not know. He did not like my waking him to ask about it, and he could have been expressing displeasure by not giving me what I wanted. I could try and make him talk if you—”
    “No, we can’t have you doing that. The police will be involved if you get rough.”
    “So, what do you want to do?”
    “Have your colleague keep a watch on her house, in case it is opened. I will let you know when I need you again.”
    Glasbury did not expect that house to be opened. If Penelope was no longer at the hotel, he knew where she most likely had gone. She had probably run to hide behind her brother Laclere.
    Well, he knew how to handle that. His rights of possessionhad been compromised in all kinds of ways these last years, but not where she was concerned. It would be more complicated to fight her family, but he would prevail.
    After all, he owned her.

chapter
4
    J ulian was surprised in the morning by a summons to La-clere’s house. He left Mrs. Tuttle to see to Penelope’s comfort and rode his horse to the one o’clock appointment.
    He was shown to the viscount’s study. Laclere’s dark head rose at once from its contemplation of some documents on the desk when Julian entered.
    “I am expecting a caller. I thought I should have you here when he comes,” Laclere said without formality. “I wrote to you as soon as I received his letter in the morning post.”
    “Someone was rude enough to demand to call? It is generous of you