Beauty Tempts the Beast by Leslie Dicken

Author:Leslie Dicken
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9781605046174
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2009-07-06T14:00:00+00:00

She meant, of course, that she’d not leave the house for good. Vivian made her trip to the dress shop that very afternoon. If Lord Ashworth wished to have her dressed more fashionably and he would pay for it, why should she resist?

Yet, as the carriage dropped her off at the corner, Vivian started to wonder if coming to the village again was a mistake. At the sight of the viscount’s emblem, every person on the pavement stopped to look. Every eye watched her take the few short steps from the vehicle to the shop door.

What reputation did Lord Ashworth hold? Did his terrible act occur here among these people? Or did they only embrace the rumors and feed upon them like starving rats in a trash heap?

Vivian entered the dress shop and her shoulders dropped with a release of tension. The store held feminine, flowery scents. Although the room was no bigger than the dining room at Silverstone Manor, the smells alone were a welcome change.

A customer brushed past Vivian, giving her a quick glare on her way out the door.

Vivian glanced over the fabrics, alive with vivid colors and subdued pastels. How would she know what to choose? It had been so long since she’d had a fancy dress made. After her season in London, there seemed no real reason to spend money on nice clothes. Especially when her father declared he’d found her a husband.

She shivered. She could be Martin’s wife now. Had she not run, she would be in his clutches. Morning would find her bruised and beaten. Nights would sink her into devastating darkness.

Yes, she’d made the right decision. Lord Ashworth was no monster like the man she’d left. He would keep her safe.

“I’ll not take his credit.”

Vivian looked up to see a shrewd woman with fierce brown eyes staring at her. “Pardon me?”

“The viscount. If’n he sent you without coins, I won’t put your dresses on credit.”

Stunned, Vivian could not bring herself to answer. She merely nodded, knowing the carriage driver held the money necessary to pay for her bill.

Those eyes drew up and down Vivian’s body. “So, what’ll he have you wear?”

“I—I don’t know. A fine dinner dress, I suppose.”

The dressmaker circled her. “Any particular color?”

“No. I mean, he didn’t specify. What do you suggest?”

“For the mistress of a monster?”

“Mistress? Monster?” She wasn’t sure which appalled her more.

The woman fingered a deep red silk. “You’ve heard the rumors, no doubt, and yet you continue to stay at that…that house.”

Vivian lifted her chin. “I am in no harm in that manor, nor am I his mistress.”

The dressmaker snorted. “Lord Ashworth isn’t hiding himself up there for nothing. If he hasn’t done something worth hiding for, then why haven’t we ever seen him?”

“But everyone speaks of his scar. You must have seen him at some point.”

“There’s enough who work up there who’ve spoken of it. Looks like a monster, I’ve heard.”

Looks like a monster. Done something worth hiding for.

Was she the fool not to believe

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