The Temptation of Laura Read Online Free PDF Page B

though.”
    Laura’s smile dissolved. “Bette’s ill, Tess. Really ill.”
    Tess’s face twisted in sympathy and she clutched Laura’s arm. “She’ll pull through, won’t she? Bette’s made of stronger stuff than any of us. Nothing will bring her down.”
    “With Bette ill and me not being as active as I used to, the money’s drying up. I need to work and I came here hoping to get lucky. I need a job. A real job. I’d love to give up the whoring, but when I bumped into Ellen Jenkins outside the theater a couple of nights ago, I thought she might have the right idea.”
    Tess grimaced. “Hmm, I know what Ellen Jenkins thinks she is now and, believe me, escorting ain’t no prettier than whoring. Not by a long shot. Those gentlemen aren’t all they make themselves out to be.” She scowled and glanced around. “Half the time they’re a hell of a lot more demanding than the ones on the street . . . and stranger.”
    Caution rippled through Laura’s blood. “What do you mean?”
    “I mean a lot of them are married, with children, and have a taste for the vile. They’ve got demands that would make your stomach weak.”
    Laura frowned. “Ellen looked as though the money was dripping from her drawers.”
    “I wouldn’t want no more part of that life if the money was dripping from my earlobes.”
    “I know, but—”
    “Wouldn’t you do anything not to have to do what you do ever again? To go home at night and know you’ve earned a crust by not laying with any man, boy, or grandfather?” Tess lifted her basket. “How would you feel about doing this?”
    “Selling treats? I’d never make enough to see me and Bette right, would I? I’d have to sell night and day to pay the rent alone.”
    “I don’t just do this, silly.”
    “No?”
    Tess laughed. “Nooo, I take messages backstage. Set up meetings.” She winked. “Gentlemen pay a lot to see the actresses alone. The women pay a lot more to see Adam Lacey.”
    Laura’s heart skipped and she faced the stage. “Adam Lacey?”
    Tess’s breath whispered warm against her ear. “Do you blame them? Who wouldn’t want a bit of alone time with Adam Lacey?”
    Laura smiled as excitement whipped up a storm inside her. “Who wouldn’t, indeed?”

Chapter 4
    Protectiveness over paper. Who would have thought such a thing could exist?
    Yet, the feeling hurtling through Adam’s heart as he sat in one of the back rooms of the theater with his director could not be described as anything else. He tightened his jaw and studied the portraits of past stars gracing the walls. Undoubtedly, each one had come to Bath as young and as ambitious as he—and either gone on to tread the boards at London’s West End or were now languishing on the slag heap. Acting was a two-way street, without junctions veering in alternative directions.
    He was learning fast you either went up or down. There was no in between.
    The scrunch and crumple of his manuscript pages in the director’s hands veered his attention. For the last excruciatingly painful fifteen minutes, the man had scanned and tossed the sheets aside as though the words portrayed recipe instructions rather than the outpouring of Adam’s soul.
    “And you say you’ve no investment whatsoever?”
    Adam met the cool study of his soon-to-be ex-director. A week to the finale of his current acting job and counting. The dire truth of his financial situation thumped him up the side of the head for the fortieth time that day.
    He shook his head. “No, that is what I was hoping you can help me with.”
    Victor Talisman, currently Bath’s most sought-after director, regarded him from beneath heavy lids. “The play’s not bad, son, but it isn’t brilliant either.”
    “I just need a bit of belief from someone. Someone willing to take an informed risk.” Adam resisted the urge to clasp his hand to the back of Victor’s absurdly thick neck and demand he see sense. Instead, he curled his fingers into a fist on the table