Beauty and the Earl Read Free Page B

lip. “Do you think you might come with me? I think you’ve heard more about the man than I have and I could use your help and advice.”
    Olivia’s face lit up. “A few weeks in Bath! Of course I’ll come. There is no downside to that offer.”
    Her friend continued to gush, but Violet couldn’t concentrate. The fact was, she feared there were many downsides to the project she had agreed to take on.  
    In fact, she feared the entire thing could become a disaster of epic proportions.

Chapter Two
    Liam sank up to his chin in the steaming waters, letting the supposedly healing waters of Bath seep into his injured shoulder. The warmth of the natural spring helped, but he wasn’t certain he retained any miracle cures beyond the few moments of pleasure in the water.
    And yet here he was, thanks in great part to the insistence of his…well, what would he call Malcolm Graham anyway? Assistant, sometime secretary, occasional estate manager… friend . Possibly the only one he had left, and that was likely due in large part to the fact that Mal was on his payroll.
    But whatever Mal’s motivation, he had dragged Liam here to “take the waters” and take the waters he would.  
    He measured his breaths, trying desperately to empty his head of all thoughts. It was a nearly impossible task, it seemed, for his mind was always filled with memories he didn’t want to consider and guilt he refused to acknowledge.  
    He squeezed his eyes shut, but his thoughts continued to race, bombarding him from all sides.
    “Fuck,” he muttered, and then sank beneath the water entirely. Beneath the depths, there was no noise, nothing to see, and his brain began to quiet finally. Cut off from everything, even breath, he could almost pretend that his life above the surface didn’t exist.
    Almost.
    Unfortunately, his body required air to live and so he rose reluctantly. He wiped his face off and slicked his now-wet hair back with his good hand. He opened his eyes and froze.
    There, standing on the edge of the steps that led down into the large, square pool where he reclined alone, was a woman. Not just any woman, but probably one of the most beautiful women he had ever had the pleasure to look upon in his thirty years.  
    She was intensely exotic, with a slightly olive-toned skin and thick, sleek black hair that was drawn back loosely, though strands of it continued to bounce around her oval face. Her dark brown eyes, which were currently focused intently on his face, sparkled in the lamplight and held on him with a confidence he normally didn’t see in women. Especially women wearing a white chemise that left no curve of her body to the imagination.
    He licked his lips as a hot slicing shock of desire ricocheted through his body and settled in his loins. Beneath the water, his cock began to throb.
    “This is a private room,” he managed to croak out.
    Her eyebrows lifted and a slight smiled turned up her lips. “Oh, I certainly hope that is true, considering what I have planned.”
    She took a step into the water and immediately that white chemise went sinfully sheer against her calves. Another step and her thighs were revealed as the water sloshed up and down against her movements.  
    He swallowed, his head spinning now, but not with its normally unpleasant thoughts. No, it spun with desire, confusion and a desperate need to have her come deeper into the water.
    “Who are you?” he asked.
    She smiled. “Violet Milford, my lord,” she said, and he almost expected her to put out a hand as if they were meeting under more normal circumstances.
    He sucked in a breath, and her smile broadened.
    “You know my name, do you?” she asked.  
    He nodded. “Yes. The courtesan.”
    She hesitated on the third step of the pool and nodded. “And I know you, as well, Lord Windbury.”
    Liam settled back, resting his good arm on the edge of the pool behind him as she continued into the water. Waves covered her body, but she was waist-deep now.