A Season of Seduction Read Free Page B

wasn’t an unpleasant combination, though it was one that struck Becky as entirely masculine. It didn’t come as a surprise, either, since the hotel appeared to cater mostly to wealthy merchants in London for business.
Mr. Sheffield turned to a strip of wood lined with keys hanging on pegs. “I’ve had the rooms cleaned especially for you tonight, Mrs. James. There is a buffet of selected cheeses, breads, and fruits, and the bottles of spirits you requested await you.” He paused. “And, of course, your guest has already arrived.”
In an instant, burning heat suffused her face. “Thank you, Mr. Sheffield.”
He pressed the key into her hand, and she closed her fingers around it and turned away to his hopes that she had a very nice evening.
Cecelia chuckled as they turned down the passage. “You’re adorable.”
Becky’s blush deepened, and she choked out, “Adorable?”
“How flushed and flustered you become every time we come here. As if Mr. Sheffield doesn’t deal with this kind of thing every single day.”
“Is that why he doesn’t judge?” Becky murmured, wondering whether all those men she saw in the corridors and common rooms weren’t here on business at all, but to engage in torrid affairs with their mistresses.
“Of course it is. You pay him well, you don’t destroy his property, and you’re respectful. What right has he to judge?”
“He knows what I am doing? Why I am here?”
“Of course he does.”
Becky sighed as they mounted the stairs. Truly, the world was much different from how it had been presented to her when she was younger. She had always been taught that there were certain moral laws everyone abided by and everyone upheld. There was right and wrong, good and bad. In her marriage, she’d seen true evil, and in her family she’d seen true good. But so many other actions and thoughts blurred in the center of the spectrum.
“People are so complicated,” she murmured as they stepped onto the landing of the first floor and turned the corner to mount the second set of stairs.
“That they are,” Cecelia agreed.
“Deeds are complicated, too.”
Cecelia was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” she finally said. “That’s also true.”
The strong, cloying scent of ambergris and carnations heralded the approach of another lady. The swish of skirts preceded the large woman as she bustled toward them. Startled, Becky looked up and met a set of heavy, dark-ringed hazel eyes. The woman stared at her for a long moment, and a flash of recognition jolted through Becky.
The woman turned to Cecelia. “Excuse me,” she said in a haughty voice. She twisted her skirts out of their way and continued her progression down the stairs.
By the time she disappeared, Becky and Cecelia were at the landing. Becky paused, gripping the top of the stair rail. “I know her,” she whispered.
Cecelia frowned. “Really?”
“That was Lady Borrill. Her husband sits in Parliament with my cousin Tristan. They’re friends. I knew they’d been staying at a hotel while their townhouse was being refurbished, but I didn’t know it was this one.”
Cecelia glanced back down the stairs. “Well, she didn’t seem to know you.”
How could she not? Becky had met Lady Borrill several times. It was certainly true that she had never struck Becky as the most intelligent woman of her acquaintance, but Lady and Lord Borrill had even come to visit Calton House for a month the winter before Becky had come to Town for her Season.
“She just gave me the cut direct,” Becky whispered.
Cecelia gave her a dark look. “You cannot know that. More likely she simply didn’t remember you.”
“I… don’t think so. Oh, Cecelia, she must know what I’m doing here.”
“Of course she doesn’t.”
“How can you be so sure?” Even though Becky kept her voice quiet, her words emerged in a low wail. “I’m at a hotel in town, when she knows full well I live at my brother’s house. Why else could I possibly be here?”
“You are