Charmed and Dangerous Read Free Page A

someone’s.

Two
    Laura stood in the great ballroom of the house that the Danish delegation had hired for the duration of the Congress of Vienna, her heart racing behind a calm facade. The roar of a hundred conversations swirled about her, nearly drowning out the strains of the musicians playing in the far corner. The huge room was lavish with white and gold ornament, the tall windows draped in midnight blue velvet. Laura could hear five languages being spoken just in the area around her. How fortunate, she thought, that languages had been one thing the Countess of Leith wished her daughters to learn. One of the very few things. Teaching them had kept Laura’s skills honed, and even added to them. She could converse quite easily in French, Italian, and German. But not Russian, she thought with regret, listening to two burly men behind her murmur in that tongue. If she had only known she would be coming here, she would have learned Russian.
    An impish grin lit her features. She automatically suppressed it, and then shook her head slightly. She didn’t have to do that any longer. For a while—for the brief period of this unimaginable change in her life, this adventure—she was free. The grin broke loose, making Laura’s deep green eyes sparkle.
    â€œAre you all right?” said Catherine, who stood next to her.
    Laura nodded.
    â€œThey should be along quite soon now.”
    The sparkle in Laura’s eyes deepened. General Pryor was bringing Gavin Graham to this ball—to make sure he showed up for their meeting, Laura imagined. He would hardly be eager. For the hundredth time, she wondered how she would fulfill the task she had accepted. She was determined to do what she could in exchange for this escape—however brief—from the life she had been leading. But how, precisely, did one divert a seasoned man of the world from a lovely foreign spy?
    She had absolutely no idea. She was hoping that something would occur to her when she encountered him again. At least she wasn’t a naive, ignorant eighteen-year-old any longer, she told herself.
    She had to control a spurt of laughter. In the last ten years, she had vastly broadened her horizons by reading almost every book in the Earl of Leith’s extensive library. She had learned a great many things that gently reared young women were not supposed to know. She had been startled, shocked, occasionally revolted—and as time went by, more and more intensely curious. This would most likely be her only chance to discover the reality of some of those words on the page. She intended to make the most of it.
    â€œThat gown is a most unusual green,” said a woman in French behind her.
    â€œYes,” answered her companion in the same language. “Dark, but quite striking.”
    â€œA little daring, without going too far. The sleeves are very chic.”
    Laura glanced at Catherine to see if she was following this critique of Laura’s gown, but she showed no sign of understanding.
    â€œShe is not French,” stated the second observer with certainty.
    â€œNo. Yet she has a certain… Spanish, perhaps?”
    Laura could almost hear the shrug that followed this guess. She found she was extremely pleased at being difficult to categorize.
    â€œAh,” continued the first French voice. “There is that Englishman, Graham.”
    At the same moment, Catherine gave a discreet wave at her approaching husband.
    â€œYou have heard of him? They say he is a fantastic lover.”
    â€œAn Englishman!”
    â€œSo they say. A veritable poet of the bedchamber.”
    â€œIncredible.”
    Laura had to exert a good deal of control to keep her expression bland. A poet? she thought. What would that mean, exactly? She watched Gavin walk toward them. His hair was still that unusual dark gold, like a sovereign burnished by the years. No doubt his eyes were still a cool gray-blue as well. He still stood half a head