A Brazen Bargain by Trentham Laura

Author:Trentham, Laura [Trentham, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: role reversal, England, cinderella, PTSD, spies, gambling, aristocracy
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2016-01-26T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The rhythmic rocking woke her. How had she ended up on a boat? She pried one eye open to see the familiar blue canopy above her. Not a boat then, but everything spun oddly. She was in danger of tossing her accounts all over the beautiful bed.

Swallowing down the rising bile, Minerva closed her eyes. It wasn’t getting any better. She sat up ever so slowly. The counterpane fell to her waist. Her chemise drooped down, her exposed nipple pebbling in the cool, morning air. Her dress lay puddled haphazardly on the rug.

The evening’s events rushed back to her in an instant. She fell backwards and pulled the covers over her head. Oh…my…God. Had she actually begged Rafe to take her maidenhead? Unfortunately, she remembered every minute detail of the previous evening. She’d gained a roiling stomach and a pounding head but hadn’t lost her faculties.

She recalled it all. Her shrewish accusations, her attempt, albeit feeble, to break his nose, and her admission she wanted him—very, very badly. Even hidden under the sheets with no one to see her, heat suffused her body, the embarrassed kind. Not the kind he had invoked with his hands. Those devilish hands. He may have been named for an angel, but he was wicked. So deliciously wicked.

The door creaked. Minerva tucked the sheet under her chin. Jenny popped her head around, her eyes bright and darting.

“Oh-ho. You’re finally awake. I’ve been peeking in on you all morning. Are you unwell?” Jenny bustled into the room, expertly balancing a breakfast tray. There was dry toast, fruit, tea and a glass filled with a strange green liquid.

“Why would you think that?” She righted her chemise under the covers before sitting up against the pillows.

“Lord Drummond specifically had Mrs. Potts prepare this tray for you. Said you might not be feeling quite up to snuff.”

Jenny sat the tray in Minerva’s lap, flourishing a hand over the contents. She would be forever grateful there weren’t kippers staring back at her. A run to the chamber pot would have been a surety. Her entire body felt parched, and she drank the entire cup in three gulps, craving a river of tea. She pointed to the glass filled with green sludge. “What in the world is that?”

“Not sure what’s in it exactly. Mrs. Potts calls it a morning-after tonic.” Jenny tidied the room. She swept the borrowed, discarded dress from the floor with a disapproving tsk.

Rafe knew how to survive mornings after being in the bottle, there was no question there. Minerva raised the glass with a shaking hand and sniffed. It smelled of fruits and greens, mild and sweet. The first sip stayed down, so another followed, until the glass was empty.

Her stomach’s violent roiling reduced to a mild simmer, which only emphasized the pounding in her head. Never, ever again would she give in to temptation. Of the bottle, that is. Despite her embarrassment, Rafe Drummond was a temptation she wasn’t sure she could give up. Especially not after the blinding pleasure he’d wrought.

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