Earls Just Want to Have Fun by Shana Galen

Author:Shana Galen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2014-11-17T16:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Marlowe stood in the garden, feeling chilled now that Dane was walking away. She was a numbskull, forgetting for a moment who and what he was. It was the spark that had done it. She didn’t know that kissing could feel like that. She felt sick to her stomach and shaky and terrified all at the same time. It was like suffering from a particularly awful ague, except she didn’t want it to go away.

Something was definitely wrong with her. She wasn’t thinking clearly. Why had she let him kiss her? Why had she asked him to kiss her again? She knew he didn’t want her. She knew better than to let some swell paw at her, though he hadn’t exactly pawed. He’d been tender and gentle, and that had been its own form of persuasion. If he’d grabbed her or been rough, she might have fought him. How did one fight against tenderness?

How did one remember he was a nob and she would never be anything but a villain? If she let him, he would use her, and then she’d end up with a swollen belly and a brat she couldn’t care for. She’d be selling her body on the streets like every other bawd who’d been weak enough to listen to a man’s charming words.

Marlowe wasn’t a pigeon, easily duped and cheated.

“Well, well, well…”

Marlowe’s back prickled, and she inhaled sharply before turning. She knew that voice, but he couldn’t be here. She had to be imagining this. Satin stepped out of the shadows and gave her a low bow. “Don’t you look like a frigot well rigged.”

She looked down at Susanna’s gown and swallowed. A thousand questions filled her mind. How had he found her? How had he managed to sneak inside the garden? What did he intend to do to her now?

“Satin,” she said, her voice shaking.

“Let me see you, Marlowe.” He made a motion with his finger, encouraging her to turn for him. She stood rooted in place. “Turns out you’re a rum blowen. Didn’t think you had it in you, but you were hiding these looks under all that dirt.”

“How did you find me?” But she knew. The cub who had spotted her on the walk back from Hyde Park had snitched on her, sold her for a song, she was certain. And why not? In his place, she would have done the same. Satin was a powerful ally.

“The real question, Marlowe,” Satin said, leaning close and giving her a whiff of his fetid breath, “is why didn’t you find me? Thought you were well rid of me, didn’t ye?”

“No.” She shook her head. She’d never thought that, not really. She’d known he would find her, but she’d allowed herself to pretend she was safe.

“And don’t tell me you were planning to bring me into this racket. I weren’t born yesterday.”

“It’s not a—” But she stopped herself. Satin would never believe her if she told him the truth, and it didn’t matter anyway. He’d found her.

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