You Only Love Once Read Online Free PDF Page A

done with it. It is not a long ride.”
    â€œOh? How far are we going?” He leaned back andstretched out his legs, as much as he could in the narrow hackney. His boot collided with her foot, beneath the edge of her skirt. Her expression didn’t change, but she lifted that foot, placed it on top of his boot, and pushed down until he thought she was trying to break his ankle. He braced his toes and flexed his foot, resisting. His boots weren’t the thin leather ones Englishmen were wearing now, but tougher, waterproof ones meant for a seafaring man. He just sat and waited, smiling until she let up.
    â€œI am not going far,” she said. “I don’t know where you are going.”
    â€œApparently I’m not going anywhere without you, if your Mr. Stafford has his way.”
    â€œHe may not,” she replied gently, as if breaking bad news. “You may still hope.”
    Nate raised his eyebrows. “He didn’t seem the type to take disappointment well.”
    â€œBut he will, if he has no choice.” She glanced out the window.
    Nate hadn’t heard the direction she gave the driver, but he didn’t know distances in London anyway. He might have only another minute or so to take her measure. “He might accept it, but I won’t. I intend to find Jacob Dixon and return him to New York to stand trial, no matter what you or Stafford have to say about it.”
    â€œI never suggested you do otherwise,” she said, the faintest bit of scorn shading her tone. Unflappable, but annoyed.
    He grinned. It was obvious from her expression she’d like to tell him what to do, and not just in regard to Dixon. “I only want us to understand each other. Should you decide to agree, that is.”
    Her eyes gleamed at him. “Yes, I can see you are concerned.”
    He was running out of time. She was fending him off with this cool condescension, delaying until the hackney reached her destination and she could escape. As foreign as it was to think of a woman as a cold-blooded spy, he could see it in her; it wasn’t enough to assure him of her competence, but he was willing to reserve judgment. He wanted to know what she was made of, and he couldn’t while she remained settled in this distant, controlled manner. He leaned forward, not making any effort to hide his interest.
    â€œYou’re not at all what I expected,” he said, and it was true. Her eyes were as dark as a moonless night, her skin as fair as fresh honeysuckle blossoms. She looked like a New Orleans belle, with a hint of foreign blood. Up close she wasn’t quite as young as he had first thought, but she still didn’t look anything like the bloodless clerk he had expected to be given.
    Her only reply was a faint, indulgent smile, as if she were listening to a child—and not all that attentively. “I thought he’d send someone more imposing,” he went on, trying to provoke her. “Someone older, perhaps, or more…seasoned. You may think Dixon is just some common thief, but he’s much worse, clever and charming and utterly without morals. Stafford assures me you’re competent, but I confess, I would have preferred someone else.” Someone more predictable.
    She gave a small sigh, that infuriating smile still fixed on her lips. Her eyes wandered to the window as if his every word bored her to tears. “I just hope I don’t have to spend the entire time saving yourpretty little neck,” he muttered, more as a jibe at her silence than a real concern. He didn’t intend to spend his time looking out for her, not when he had more pressing matters. If she couldn’t take care of herself, so much the worse for her.
    Finally he seemed to have pierced her demeanor. She leaned forward, looking directly at him. She crooked her finger at him, and he, too, leaned forward. Up close she was almost exotically beautiful, he thought, with slightly slanted eyes