Wedded in Sin Read Online Free PDF

streaks of hair going from nearly white all the way to a dull brown. But in the sunlight, her hair appeared like textures to him. An infinite variety of multifacets that boggled his mind for the complexity of it. And yet, taken as a whole, it was simply stunning.
    “You’re a daft toff and I’ll bet a lazy one,” she said, dismissing him with a sigh. “But if you want to carry my bag to the dress shop, then I won’t say no.”
    “Will you thank me?” he asked, startled to hear himself flirting. With a shoemaker of all people! And yet he found Miss Shoemaker to be intriguing. And that was not something he ever took lightly.
    She snorted as if he’d just confirmed her worst opinion of him. “If you give the bag straight back to me with no argument, yes, I’ll thank you.” Then she pointed to where they were heading. “Lady Caniche’s shop is a few blocks that way.”
    “Caniche? That’s a decidedly unfortunate name.” She didn’t disagree—and how could she with a shop named “Lady Poodle” in French? So together they headed off while his mind began sorting through the pieces. The shop was a nothing place struggling to survive in a location too far off Bond Street to be noticed by anyone at all. Except that someone had noticed it. Lady Gwen, now a baroness, had commissioned her trousseau from them and everything went as it usually did. Lady Gwen’s attire was sumptuous, and Mrs. Mortimer (the owner) was well on her way to fame and fortune.
    Then the quiet dressmaker did the unheard-of and wildly fantastic feat of snagging Lady Gwen’s brother Robert, Lord Redhill, in matrimony. It wasn’t quite the bizarre situation it appeared. Unlike everyone else, Samuel had known Mrs. Mortimer’s true identity the moment he’d seen her. But that was a secret he had no interest in exposing, and besides, it had nothing to do with his current mystery.
    “I thought Lady Redhill renamed the shop to A Lady’s Favor,” he said.
    He watched as the woman’s step faltered. “I—I’m sorry. You are correct. It was renamed two years ago when Mrs. Mortimer took ownership.” He nodded. “Perfectly understandable. I surmise you have lived all your life in this area. When one’s life is in upheaval, it is easy to forget minor changes in the environment.”
    “Except you remembered.” She tilted her head, her eyes once again narrowed. As if it were his fault that he remembered practically everything, trivial or not.
    “My life is not in upheaval.”
    “Neither is this your usual environment.”
    He nodded happily. “Thank you for noticing. I assure you, it is the rare soul who does so. Now to continue, I believe you are the shoemaker making all those lovely slippers for Lady Gwen’s family.”
    “No, sir,” she said stiffly. “I am merely the girl who takes the measurements. Tommy’s father fashions the shoes.”
    “Of course,” he said, understanding that was a fiction she needed to maintain for now. Until such time as she became famous enough to reveal her true identity. But that was neither here nor there. “They will let you sleep in the shop?”
    She shrugged. “Mrs. Mortimer married—”
    “Yes, I heard.”
    “But her mother still stays in the rooms above the shop. They’ve made up Helaine’s old bedroom for Tommy for when I’m working and can’t watch him.”
    “And now it shall be for you both. At least until we can get your true home back.”
    She looked at him, her light blue eyes almost colorless in the sun. He could see she was fighting tears of frustration. She was not one to waste them on pitying herself, but fury could make one’s eyes water just as well. He had much the same reaction to lawlessness.
    “How?” she asked. “How will we do that?”
    She was overwrought, and no wonder; otherwise she would likely have figured it out for herself. Still, he was grateful that she couldn’t see the answer because that gave him a purpose. “It is the solicitor, of course. Wills, trustees,