Star Crossed Seduction by Jenny Brown Page B

envy because she was Randall’s favorite. But it wasn’t just the other girls’ looks she’d made herself ignore, but all the other things that didn’t add up. The pressure he put on the girls to bring in money. The way that money always disappeared. The way everyone accepted that Randall must have better food than they did because the “work” he did was so important. She’d turned a blind eye to it all because the alternative would have been to admit she’d been a fool to run off with him to London, no matter what her father had said or done. She hadn’t had the guts to face the truth.
    The humiliation choked her. How could she ever again walk the London streets where everyone had known her as Randall’s flash mort—and his gull. She had no choice now but to go to America. It wasn’t a distant dream any longer but one she would have to make real in a hurry. It would cost a lot to buy passage—but she’d find the money somehow. She’d have to. If she stayed in London much longer, she would end up in the river, and not at the hands of the Weaver’s henchmen, but from sheer mortification.
    T rev spent the morning after the masquerade debating what to do about the assignation he had set up with the bewitching pickpocket. Now that Fanshawe had given him something else to occupy his energies, there was no need to continue with the game of cat and mouse he’d let Temperance draw him into. In the cold light of morning, his obsession with her seemed hard to justify.
    Still, he owed it to her to return her precious keepsake. And if he couldn’t resist the bait she’d dangled before him, well, he’d taken no vow of chastity. If she were working for a madam, where was the harm in taking what she offered? If he didn’t, someone else would.
    He would give her more pleasure than she’d find in a brothel for the little time left before he must marry. And when he must leave her behind, he’d do something for her. She’d end up better off than she’d been before he met her though the mercenary nature of the transaction took much of the pleasure out of the idea of consorting with her.
    Where to keep her for the few weeks he might spend with her posed a problem since he was living under his mother’s roof. His knowledge of London was not thorough enough to give him an answer. So, after breakfast, he strolled over to visit the major and ask his advice.
    “You can keep her here, Trev. Nothing easier,” the major replied, raising one bushy eyebrow.
    “With you? Not on your life! One look at your handsome mug, and she’d have no more time for me.”
    The major chuckled and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “I didn’t mean in my chambers, my boy. I didn’t think your tastes would run to a threesome. But there are other rooms to let in this lodging house. The price is quite reasonable, and it might not be such a bad idea to have a friend at hand should you find yourself in need of one.”
    “You still don’t trust her, do you?” Trev observed.
    “Do you?” the major shot back.
    “Not a bit.” Trev grinned and headed downstairs to see what he could work out with the landlord.
    T emperance was choking down breakfast when a maid informed her that Lady Hartwood awaited her in her office. Her benefactor must have cast her real chart. Now she would have to listen to a lecture on her many character flaws. That was all she needed. But she had no choice except to get through it.
    Lady Hartwood greeted her with an annoying smile that lit up her frank and open countenance in a way that made Temperance yearn to slap her. No one had a right to be that cheerful, especially not when she herself felt so bad.
    Her Ladyship set aside her cup of tea, and said, “I’ve been thinking over our discussion a few days ago and feeling that perhaps I let my own nature make me too harsh. You can’t help being what you are. And since you are a Scorpio, I shouldn’t have expected you to be frank. Especially not when the ruler of