The Scandalous Life of a True Lady Read Online Free PDF

to this gathering than a sennight’s holiday in the country. I have made enemies. Threats have been made against my life.”
    “Truly?”
    “I never lie. I do not always tell all of the truth, because a good card player never shows his full hand, but I do not lie. There will be danger. Almost certainly.”
    “Then I cannot go with you.” Her regret surprised even herself. A week out of London, away from her worries, with an amiable old man had sounded attractive. “I could not chance leaving my brother alone in the world with no family if I were hurt, with no one to care for him.”
    “I understand your concern, yet you would be perfect for the position. Your skill at languages, the hint of something exotic in your appearance, the fact that you would be unknown to everyone. That is just what I need.” He set his wine glass aside and steepled his fingers, which were long and graceful, not gnarled or age spotted, she noticed. After a moment he asked, “What if I arranged for a guardian for the boy, should the worst happen?”
    Simone started to shake her head but Major Harrison went on: “An earl, who I swear would see to his future.”
    “An earl?”
    “Now that I think on it, Lord Royce is not in the best of health, nor young enough. His son, Viscount Rexford, would be willing to take on the responsibility.”
    “I think you must be dreaming, sir, or you have had too much wine. An earl? A viscount? What have they to do with a boy who is part Gypsy, part French, and entirely impoverished?”
    “They are…friends of mine. I can have legal documents for you to sign before we leave for Richmond.”
    “Then you would take me?”
    “I am torn. Leading a young lady into a life of debauchery and dissipation is against my principles, as is entangling an innocent in dangerous pursuits.”
    Simone prayed the life of a courtesan was not as degrading as he made it out to be. She was not standing on a street corner, after all, nor sharing her body with countless men each night in a brothel like Mrs. Burton’s employees. “You would treat me well,” she said, with conviction.
    “Of course. Yet this is not how you wished to lead your life, is it?”
    “No, and that is the truth.” She hated the idea, in fact. She could not trust the largesse of a lunatic old man, though. His family might protest his support of an unknown student. For all she knew, his family could lock him in Bethlehem Hospital before he paid Auguste’s tuition. “I require the money I can earn, however.”
    “And I unfortunately require just such a female as you appear to be: loyal, intelligent, able to follow instructions, honest and brave.”
    “I am not brave.”
    He licked his lips. “Sweet. Will you come, knowing the danger, knowing you cannot go back to being a governess, knowing this is a temporary arrangement only?”
    The more Major Harrison tried to convince her otherwise, the more, perversely, she was sure of her decision. “Yes, I will go with you, if you answer a question for me. Mrs. Burton warned me about not intruding on your private life, but can you at least tell me if you are married? I do not know if I can do this, if I would be injuring another woman so.”
    “No, there is no Mrs. Harrison pining for me. I have hopes to wed in the future, but not now, with unfinished business.”
    Simone had to hide her own smile at the dodderer’s optimism. What in the world was he waiting for? She wondered if he could still father a child and, for that matter, why he needed a mistress. She decided she might as well ask while he was permitting such license.
    “The house party requires it. Lord Gorham’s mistress wishes to play hostess to a select gathering. I need to attend, to face the threats against me.”
    “Why not simply avoid them?”
    “And let danger come at me in the dark? No, I choose to face my enemies, not take a knife in the back.”
    “The party could be so perilous?”
    “That is not the half of it.”
    “Then I want