An Introduction to Pleasure by Jess Michaels

Author:Jess Michaels [Michaels, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9781619211322
Publisher: Samhain
Published: 2012-06-19T00:00:00+00:00

Lysandra stepped from the carriage and wrinkled her brow. Another vehicle was parked in front of her cousin’s home, half-blocking the drive. She shrugged as she moved to the front door and knocked.

As she waited for a servant to answer, she sighed. This was the first time she would see her mother since she had begun her affair with Andrew. Her mother knew her better than anyone. Would she sense a change in Lysandra? And if she ever found out what lengths she had gone to, would her mother still love her?

She shivered and then stared at the door. It had been a very long moment since she knocked and no answer. She rapped again, this time harder. Inside she heard a rushing of feet and the door flew open to reveal her cousin’s manservant, Clarence. His jacket was cockeyed and his brow sweaty.

“What?” he bellowed, the cockney accent he normally was forced to cover bursting through in whatever upset he was experiencing. Then he shook his head and corrected himself back into a more normal tone and accent.

“Miss Keates. It’s you.”

His voice was cold, and he actually glared at her. Not that he was ever nice to her, but he had never been so outwardly hateful, either.

Behind him, Lysandra saw flashes of servants running up and down stairs and heard muffled shouts and conversations.

“Yes, it’s me,” she said with a shake of her head. “What in the world is going on in there?”

He motioned her inside. “Come with me.”

She followed him down the hall, still utterly confused by his behavior, the fact that every servant in the house seemed to be in an uproar and that all of them stared at her as she passed by.

He opened the door to her cousin’s office. August was sitting at his desk, jacket tossed on the floor, cravat loosened at his neck. He was sweating profusely and leaning over a register making furious notes and swearing under his breath.

“Mr. Ingram, Miss Keates.” The servant all but spat her name.

Her cousin froze and then slowly looked up from his papers. Lysandra tensed. She had no idea what was going on, but it clearly had something to do with her. She braced for the worst, but was surprised when he came around the desk and grabbed her hand.

“Call him off, Lysandra,” he said, squeezing tight to her fingers until she could scarcely feel them anymore. “Tell him not to destroy me.”

She shook her head as she yanked her hand free. She rubbed the feeling back into it as she said, “What are you talking about, August? What in the world is going on here?”

“You must know!” her cousin sputtered. “He’s here. He hit me—”

Lysandra drew back. Her cousin did have a rather ugly-looking bruise on the side of his jaw. She almost smiled, but was still too confused to enjoy his pain even in the slightest.

“Who hit you?” she asked.

“And he said if I didn’t give you back the money you just gave me, he’d make sure everything was taken from me,” her cousin rambled, utterly ignoring her question.

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