A Lady’s Secret Read Free

?”
    “A Coquette,” he said. It was the dog’s name, but in French it meant “a little nothing.” “Ignore it.”
    Instead she put out a hand to stroke the tiny head. Robin was familiar with the effect. After all, he’d acquired Coquette to seduce a lady in Versailles, where the breed was all the rage. He took the dog out, willing to use any tool.
    “So pretty!”
    “Allow me to give her to you as a gift.”
    She drew back, frowning. “How heartless you are.”
    “It is my mission in life to fulfill all ladies’ desires.” He smiled into her eyes. “Come into the inn, Sister Immaculata, and tell me yours.”
    She hissed in a breath. Had he gone too far, too fast? But another screech from her employer made her turn and hurry through the arch. It took them to a small garden from which another door opened into the inn’s entrance hall.
    “Too public,” he said, touching her arm to steer her into what looked like an empty parlor. She moved sharply ahead to outpace his touch. He followed, but didn’t close the door. Yet. There was an old story about a princess and a pea. He generally found that such sensitivity to his touch indicated a woman was primed for pleasure.
    “Now, Sister,” he said gently, “your desires?”
    “Stop saying such things. You show no respect for my habit.”
    “It’s such a dismal garment. But,” he added, raising his free hand to signal peace, “I merely meant your wishes about your situation. The lady’s maid left. The nursemaid left. You are the screeching lady’s only servant….”
    As he’d predicted, hard-heeled footsteps beat a tattoo down the steps to the innyard, and the demands started up again there.
    “Her name?” he asked.
    “Lady Sodworth.” The English words spoken with a fluid Italian accent sounded like another curse.
    Robin didn’t recognize the title Sodworth, and the haut vollée of Britain was his world. Another imposter? Could this be some strange plot?
    “What exactly is your position with the lady?” he asked, studying her.
    “Companion. But now she expects me to do everything.”
    “And you’ve endured the lady all the way from…?”
    “Milan.”
    “Why?”
    The simple question seemed to challenge her.
    “I had reason to travel to England and needed female companionship.”
    Through the open window, he could hear the lady haranguing an ostler in atrocious French.
    “The price seems high.”
    “She is under great strain.”
    “Which I suspect is entirely of her own creation. The voice alone would drive off angels.”
    Another flip of fine-fingered hands. “I have no choice. I must go and pacify her.” She headed for the door.
    “Your destination is England?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then may I take you there?”
    She turned to face him. “Of course not.”
    “Why not?”
    “You’re a man.”
    “A very safe one.”
    She gave a snort of disbelief. But she didn’t continue on her way.
    “Truly, Sister Immaculata, a man like me can’t afford to add cuckolding God to his sins. But perhaps rescuing one of his brides would wipe away some years in purgatory?”
    “You think me an idiot, sir? You are not a man any woman should trust.”
    “On the contrary, it’s the hungry beast that is dangerous. You behold me, Sister, satiated by the ladies of Versailles.”
    The pink that flooded her cheeks made him dizzy, but her eyes remained steady. “Are you staying here tonight?”
    He knew the necessary answer. “No.”
    Lady Sodworth was inside the inn now, her demanding voice cutting the air like a saw. Upstairs, something shattered, perhaps even a window.
    The errant nun moved to hide behind the door. “Do you travel swiftly?” she whispered.
    “As swiftly as roads and horses permit.”
    “Do you give me your word, sir, at peril of your immortal soul, that you will deliver me safe to London?”
    “Safe” was a slippery term. Robin defined it to suit himself and said, “I do.” Then he grinned. “How very matrimonial, to be