Simply Scandalous by Kate Pearce Page B

are.”
    â€œI suppose he will.”
    â€œI’m surprised he didn’t come after us.”
    She shrugged. “He knows I can take care of myself.”
    â€œIf he thinks that, he is a fool.”
    She walked to the door. “He probably assumed I was with you. He wouldn’t be worried.”
    â€œAnd why is that? Am I no longer seen as a threat?”
    She opened the door and half turned back toward him. “I told him you would never harm me.”
    The quiet confidence of her tone annoyed him far more than he had anticipated. “Why, because I am too meek and mild?”
    She raised her eyebrows. “No, because you know your own strength, and despite everything you say, or perhaps because of it, you would never hurt a woman.”
    â€œI’ve hurt women; I’ve even killed them. You know that.”
    â€œBut not me.”
    â€œThere’s still time.” He took a deliberate step toward her, but she didn’t flinch away.
    â€œRichard, if you restrained yourself from killing me when you found out I was still alive, you are very unlikely to hurt me now.”
    â€œAre you saying I’ve missed my chance?” He shot her a furious glare. “You don’t know that.”
    She smiled. “Good night, Mr. Ross.”
    And she was gone before he could call her back and . . . and what? Demand a chance to kill her? Richard sighed and followed her down the hall. She had no idea how to get out of the more private side of the pleasure house, so she would have to bear his company for a little longer until he could set her free.

7

    I have kept him out of my bed for months now, and he is both angry and suspicious. I cannot bear his touch, my love, but I will have to endure it unless all our plans are to fail. At least if I persuade him to bring me back to his country estate, I can be near you in spirit when he completes his loathsome marital duties. . . .

    Emily slowly put the letter down and stared at the cramped script. Her mother had tried to avoid her marriage bed with an increasingly annoyed Philip because she already had a lover. Her timid, sickly mother had been far more devious than Emily could ever have imagined. What had possessed her to marry Philip when her heart was obviously elsewhere?
    She reached into the wooden keepsake box, took out her mother’s diary, and leafed through the pages. There was nothing written on the day the letter had been composed. Emily had noticed that her mother tended to do either one or the other: pour her heart out into her journal or to her lover. It didn’t make any sense. From what she knew of her parents, they had been betrothed before her father was sent to India. Her mother, Anne, had often complained that she hadn’t enjoyed a proper Season in London because she was already engaged and the expense was considered unnecessary.
    So when had she met this other man? Emily contemplated the letter. Unfortunately, there were no addresses on the correspondence. After her parents died, Anne was brought up with Philip’s family, which meant that her paramour had to have been encountered at the Ross family country estate.
    Could she think of a pretext to go and visit her old home? Since her father’s elevation to the peerage, they had moved to the much larger Knowles estate and leased their old home to distant cousins. It wasn’t that far out of London. All she needed was for someone to accompany her.
    There was a knock on her door and her maid came in. “Miss Ross, there are two gentlemen awaiting you in the drawing room with Mr. Richard.”
    â€œThank you, Jess.” Emily smoothed down her green skirts and patted ineffectually at her hair. “I’ll be down in a moment.”
    She tidied the box and locked the contents away in her clothes chest. It was past time to bring the matter to Richard’s attention, although she was dreading it. He had a stubborn affection for their late mother,