When a Lady Deceives (Her Majesty’s Most Secret Service) Read Online Free PDF

pulse would slow. “Perhaps you are a gentleman, after all.”
    His mouth hitched into a rogue’s smile as he slowly shook his head. “I know a lady when I see one. I’ll escort you home.”
    Something in that smile made her heart stutter. “That’s not necessary.”
    “I will see you safely to your doorstep. I’ll send for my driver.” He scooped up his sack coat and draped the heavy garment over her shoulders. The hem grazed the floor and the sleeves hung well past her fingertips, but the stout wool would provide protection against the chill and the leering stares of neighborhood vagrants.
    “Thank you, but I prefer to walk.”
    “I won’t see you on the street alone tonight. Not with the likes of Poole lurking about. I’ll join you.”
    Amazing, how civil they seemed. How polite and well-mannered. And this, moments after he’d branded her to the marrow with his kiss.
    She drew the collar to her chin, as if that might protect her from the oh-too-recent memory. “I suppose there’s no harm in that. I have a room near Charing Cross.”
    He lightly grasped her elbow. His gaze swept over her. A whisper of amusement softened his eyes. “I don’t think I could even find you inside that coat.”
    “Should I be relieved, Mr. Colton?”
    “Absolutely.”
    She bundled the coat around her like armor. Silence settled between them as they made their way down the back stairs of the tavern and covered the distance to the boardinghouse. A single lamp glowed in the windows of the worn brick building.
    “Thank you for your assistance tonight.” She removed the coat and handed it to him. “Good night, Mr. Colton.”
    “Good night, Jennie.”
    A bold one he was, using her given name. But then again, he’d kissed her ’til her knees went weak, so proper decorum did seem a bit of an afterthought. Her cheeks flamed with warmth.
    She rushed through the door without a backward glance and made her way up the two flights to her room. Hurling herself onto the bed, she clutched a pillow to her chest. The pleasant scent of a lavender sachet tucked inside the freshly washed pillowcase could not banish her thirst for Matthew Colton’s masculine essence. Her body ached with yearning. Even when she squeezed her lids shut, she saw his eyes, the dark irises shadowed with masculine hunger. He’d wanted her, and she’d craved surrender.
    She rolled onto her back, the truth a stab of misery through her heart. Covering her eyes with her forearm, Jennie’s disgust bubbled up in the form of a sigh. She’d come so close to ruining everything. She needed to find Mary’s diary, and she needed to uncover the evidence that would bring the woman’s killer to justice. If Colton suspected the truth about why she’d taken on a barmaid’s role at the Lancaster, she’d need to get away from London as fast and far as the nearest train could carry her. Claude Harwick would want her silenced.
    And Colton might well be the man tasked with carrying out the deed.
    Her protector was no white knight. Matthew Colton had forged a reputation for ruthlessness. The man was a criminal, the trusted lieutenant of the most feared man in London. Few angered Claude Harwick and lived to tell about it.
    Especially not Mary McDaniel.
    …
    He shouldn’t have touched the barmaid. Turning away from the nondescript brick building where she lived, Matthew Colton cursed his own weakness. He should have known better. He should have stayed in the shadows of his office and dispatched one of his mountainous associates to take care of the drunken oaf. But he’d wanted to play the champion, if only for a brief moment. The chance to come to the rescue of the pretty but aloof barmaid who’d caught his eye was too great a temptation to resist. For so long, he’d been playing the villain.
    Christ, he was a fool.
    She’d intrigued him from the first. Now, more than ever, he wanted to puzzle her out. He knew how to read people. He heard the lies hidden in a smile and saw the