MY LADY NOTORIOUS by My Lady Notorious

Author:My Lady Notorious
Language: fra
Format: epub

Chapter 12

Chastity knew only two routes back to Heatherington’s room. One would take her outside, the other through the front hall. When she opened the door to the outside, a mist as thick as drizzle chilled her. She shivered, closed the door, and headed for the hall. She looked down at her almost-bare chest and wondered if she should try to put on the stomacher, but the house was silent. She just pulled the front edges of her gown close together and hurried along.

She froze when she heard faint voices—she thought from the gaming room—but decided those addicts were no hazard and slipped into the hall.

Only one smoky lamp still burned, and rank odors of sweat and drink hung heavy in the air, but the hall was deserted. A few items of clothing lay straggled about, and a large dark stain on the polished oak spoke of a spill. She assumed it wasn’t blood. If anyone had lost that much blood, there would have been a commotion.

Then again, if wholesale slaughter had taken place this past night, would she and Cyn have noticed?

Despite the bleakness of her situation, she couldn’t help but smile at the memories. She had never imagined lovemaking to be like that; passion had fused them, like iron in a forge. They had no future, but this one night had been worth all the pain it would bring.

But only if Cyn never knew Chloe’s identity. She must be gone before he stirred. She picked up her skirts and ran for the stairs. Her foot knocked against an empty flagon which spun off to clatter against the newel post.

“What have we here?”

Chastity whipped around to see the Marquess of Rothgar standing in a doorway in the halo of light from a branch of fresh candles. He placed them on a table and came over to her.

Chastity turned to run up the stairs, but he moved with surprising speed and caught her arm, not harshly, but with enough strength to prevent escape.

“Please, sir,” she said, putting on a country burr and keeping her face averted, “let me go.”

He turned her face toward him. “Unwise to try to pass as a country girl, my dear. Only the highborn ladies here are masked.”

Chastity clutched her gown together, feeling as halfnaked as she was. “Perhaps I want to be thought a highborn lady, sir.”

“I wonder why? They aren’t being paid.”

Somehow he’d turned them both so that he now stood between her and the stairs, a formidable barrier. Chastity’s heart started to pound with fear.

He considered her with a slight smile on his fine lips, though his eyes were shadowed and she couldn’t be sure the humor reached them. Her legs were trembling. What in heaven’s name did he want?

He looked as opulent and unsullied as he had hours earlier, and in no need of sleep. Was he human? Had he come to Rood House by accident, or tracked Cyn here? It was impossible that he connected her to his brother, even if

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.