The Scandalous Life of a True Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

twice the fee. You need me.”

Chapter Four
    He needed her.
    No, he needed a female like her. Otherwise he could take one of Lyddie’s girls and be done with it. He’d have a pretty bit of fluff on his arm with less effort, less money, and less on his conscience. He’d also make less of an impression as a connoisseur of woman, a man with exquisite taste and deep pockets. He needed a ladybird who was almost a lady, one who would have everyone talking, to create a stir heard back in London. For once, Harry sought the publicity, the notoriety, with everyone and his uncle knowing precisely where he was and with whom. Then Major Harrison could die.
    Miss Ryland was perfect, too perfect, unfortunately. No matter that every head would turn when she walked into a room, he could not turn a well-bred woman into a whore. If he didn’t, though, Lyddie would, so what would his scruples and sacrifice have accomplished? Nothing. Furthermore, Miss Ryland herself seemed determined on the course. She had problems too, and lofty principles could not outweigh bare necessity. She needed money; Harry needed a mistress. Both of them were in a hurry.
    Harry watched her as she watched him, wishing he knew what she was thinking, how she wanted him to decide. Then he recalled that he was done making decisions for others. His half-brother had pummeled the fact into him that he was not always correct in what he thought best for everyone else. No matter that he thought himself omniscient, Rex had said while Harry lay bleeding on the canvas at Jackson’s Boxing Parlor, he did not have the right to play god with anyone else’s life. Of course Harry had let the younger man win the match; Rex was lame in one leg, after all.
    He could make provision for Miss Ryland and the brother. That was no problem. He could even leave her as chaste as he found her. That might be a problem, for the woman was exquisite. Her reputation would be destroyed, though, and he knew how precious that was to a female.
    But damn, she was stunning enough to make headlines in the gossip columns, and smart enough to listen to whispered conversations in whatever language.
    Harry wanted to be done with this scheme, with all intrigue, for all times. The war was over, his days as spymaster in the Intelligence Division of the War Office were almost at an end. He wanted to retire, by Zeus, not live in shadows and disguises and under aliases for the rest of his life.
    He saw how happy his half-brother Rex was, with his lovely wife Amanda helping him recover from his war wounds, both mental and physical. Why, they had twins already, a boy and a girl, that Rex doted on. Harry was jealous, not just of the infants, but of the peace he felt surrounding the viscount and his wife at the christening.
    Harry hadn’t wanted to attend the event at all. What, the bastard brother waving his bar sinister at the church for all to see? His presence would have embarrassed everyone. But Rex had insisted, and their father, the Earl of Royce, had written his hopes of seeing all of his family, sons and grandchildren, together. Even Lady Royce, his father’s wife, had written a polite letter of invitation herself. The countess, Harry knew, felt guilty for keeping the half-brothers apart so long. Some women would have taken their husband’s by-blow into their homes to raise. Not Lady Royce. She’d left the earl and her own son, instead. Now that she and Lord Royce were reconciled, secure in their own marriage at last, she could be forgiving of the boy—a man now, of over thirty years—for coming between them through no fault of his own.
    Harry still might have refused the invitation to the family’s ancestral home, where he would never be part of the true family, but Cousin Daniel had insisted they’d all be offended otherwise. Daniel reported that his own mother wanted to meet her new nephew, his sister was excited when she heard he was as handsome as the other Royce males, with the same dark coloring