Compromising Prudence Read Free Page A

“Hell.”
    Her eyes were closed. As he shifted off the loveseat she fell back against the arm. He’d been talking more to himself than her anyway, but now what? He could hardly leave her here like this.
    “Great heavens,” Dorothea said. “What have you done with the girl, Charles?” The auburn-haired courtesan stood in the doorway with a puzzled smile.
    “Apparently bored her to sleep — although I imagine the champagne had a fair amount to do with it.”
    “Who is she?”
    “I hoped you might know.”
    “I’ve never clapped eyes on the chit before.”
    “Didn’t she give her name?”
    “Robert says she simply showed up asking to see me, claimed her name was Cerulean, if you can imagine such a preposterous thing.” Dorothea rolled her eyes. “He put her here and plied her with champagne to keep her out of the way. I’ve no idea who she is or what she wants but she most certainly can’t stay here. I can’t afford to deal with the inevitable angry father on my doorstep.”
    “I’ll take her to my house.”
    She stared hard at him, a single eyebrow raised in amusement. “You can’t be serious. I know that none of my girls captured your attention, darling. I thought you wanted to avoid the parson’s mousetrap, but that is exactly what will happen when her family discovers where she is.”
    Charles looked down at the sleeping girl. “Perhaps I will get riveted to her. That would teach Father a lesson, wouldn’t it? To marry some girl I found in a brothel? She’s rather lovely.”
    Dorothea moved into the room, closing the door carefully behind her. “She looks perfectly ordinary to me.”
    “You haven’t seen her eyes or heard her laugh. She’s very appealing in a sweet way.”
    And she kisses like a demon.
    “You sound smitten, Charles.”
    “Perhaps I am a bit. She’s a taking thing.”
    “I never thought I would see the day. I can’t just let you have her.”
    “You know I don’t mean to harm her.” Charles leapt to his feet. “I’m not going to molest her as she sleeps. She can’t stay here; she said she was ruined by a man who refused to marry her and her family has turned her out. She came to you seeking guidance on how to be a harlot or a mistress. I think she’d decided to be a mistress.”
    “I would have told her how not to become one. Although a mistress often has better time of it than a wife if she has the right protector.”
    He didn’t like the speculative gleam in Dorothea’s eye. She was notoriously tender-hearted for girls down on their luck, but not above making a profit on their misfortune. Men paid handsomely for introductions to the right sort of mistress. He wondered if she put out the stories of her helpfulness to lure desperate girls to her door.
    “This girl is not for sale,” Charles said firmly.
    “How mercenary you make me sound! I was hardly going to auction her off upstairs. Darling, you have no idea how much business I turn away.” She waved a languid hand. “I have no need to engage in as dangerous a matter as selling a society miss.”
    “I’ll take her to my house and have a maid sit with her until she wakes. I’ll find out where she belongs and return her. A girl like that must have some family to care for her.”
    “You Americans, always surprising.” Dorothea shrugged. “She’d bring me nothing but trouble. I’ll have your carriage brought around to the back. No one needs ever know she crossed my threshold.”

Chapter Two
    P RUDENCE G ROANED , S TRUGGLING U PRIGHT through mounds of silken sheets. Her head throbbed and her mouth was gritty. With a mortifying flash, the previous day’s events returned to her. She had gone to find Tommy against Papa’s wishes and —
    Her eyes flew open.
    Where am I?
    She certainly wasn’t in her own bed. The heavy curtains were still drawn, but this was not her house, not her room. Was this the house of Dorothea Tuppence? Pru frowned. There were no naughty statues or seductive paintings, no gilt or