Napoleon's Woman by Samantha Saxon

Author:Samantha Saxon [Saxon, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The Berkeley Publishing Group
Published: 2004-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Celeste often found that the most discreet place to conduct a private meeting was in middle of an enormous crush.

It had been weeks since she had contacted the emperor, and she needed to send information to convince him of her progress. Celeste took a deep breath and blew out her anxiety as her landau inched toward Lord Hambury’s townhome.

The door to her conveyance opened, and Celeste turned her head as a young Frenchman settled on the seat opposite hers. Henri Renault was very handsome and had a rather sordid reputation with the married ladies of the ton, which did little to elevate his status as refugee amongst the peerage.

Henri was the second son of a French duke who had been guillotined in the early days of the Revolution. The duchess had fled with her children to England, where Lord Renault has resided ever since.

But what polite society did not know was that the emperor had offered to restore his family’s holdings in exchange for Henri’s services. On the surface, Lord Renault was not the most effective of spies, as the ton held the majority of the French nobles in silent contempt and therefore would never confide any important information.

Fortunately for Henri, several of their wives had. And it was this, along with his ability to relay messages from English collaborators that made the young lord exceedingly valuable to France.

Celeste considered the man before her. His nose was a shade too large, which only seemed to add to his appeal. And contrary to current fashion, Henri pulled back his long hair into a queue secured at the base of his head. The style made a woman wonder what his golden mane would look like hanging over her head as he made love to her.

But it was the man’s eyes that seemed to hold the greatest appeal. Yellow turned gold when caught by the sun or the light of an intimate fire. Henri allowed his lips to spread into a lazy smile that was meant to entice, but she was used to his flirtations and continued to look at him with indifference.

"So, Lady Rivenhall," he began in French. "Do you have anything to give me?" He glanced at her breasts, his meaning clear.

Celeste refrained from rolling her eyes at his audacity. The fact that she was the emperor’s mistress did not seem to deter the young rake one whit.

"Everything I have is for the Emperor."

The man chuckled and slid onto the seat next to her. His eyes roved leisurely over her face. "The emperor is very far away, Lady Rivenhall." He bent his head and pressed his lips to her neck. "An experienced woman such as yourself cannot be expected to spend the war in a cold bed."

"Are you offering to warm it, Henri?"

The rogue lifted his head, saying, "Oui," and then bent to kiss her mouth. Celeste turned and his lips fell to her cheek.

"Take care, Henri. The emperor is not one to share, as evidenced by our involvement in this war.

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.