Master of Desire Read Free

interest elsewhere. All you must do is keep yourself in his presence. Flash him a little smile, a little ankle, a—”
    â€œAn ankle!” Emily gasped. “I should be mortified.”
    â€œBetter mortified than an old maid.”
    Perhaps there was some truth to that, and at this point in her life she was becoming quite desperate. Her father wouldn’t listen to reason, and if she had any hope of finding herself a husband, then she’d best be on with it.
    â€œA little ankle,” Emily repeated, her face growing hot at the mere thought. “Anything else?”
    â€œAlways make him wait,” Alys said. “Anticipation makes a man appreciate you all the more.”
    Emily nodded.
    Joanne folded her arms over her chest. “Now, the next question is where do we find this man?”
    Emily frowned in frustration. “Aye, that would seem to be the crux of the whole seduction thing, wouldn’t it? How can I make a man marry me when there’s no desirable man to be found?”
    â€œWell,” Alys said. “My mother always says you’ll find your rose where and when you least expect it.”
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    Later that day, Emily left the kitchens and headed back to the donjon. She’d no more than taken two steps when she found her way blocked by Theodore, the cousin of her sister’s betrothed, and the man they had disaffectionately dubbed the “demon from the devil’s most odoriferous pit.”
    They must have inadvertently summoned him with their words that morning, for Alys had no sooner finished her lecture than Niles and Theodore had shown up on their doorstep.
    A great big bear of a man, Niles had rudely taken Joanne off on a picnic and left his cousin behind. From the moment her sister and Niles had vanished, Theodore had done nothing save make a nuisance of himself as he hung about her skirts while trying his best to get beneath them.
    Emily’s patience had long worn thin, and all she wanted was peace from her pestilence.
    If Theodore be the rose Alys had referred to earlier, then Emily decided spinsterhood had great possibilities.
    He rushed to her side and immediately reached for her hand, sending a wave of revulsion up her spine.
    Why could he not leave her in peace?
    The man might be considered passably handsome, if a woman were desperate enough. And Emily prayed she never became that desperate.
    But he lacked basic hygiene. If it was true cleanliness was next to godliness, then this man had to be a heathen through and through, for his balding blond hair looked as if it seldom saw a comb and had never known soap. His clothes were eternally rumpled as if he slept in them, and by the stains marring the fabric she would say he cleaned them about as often as he did his hair.
    â€œAre you ready to give me my kiss now?” he asked.
    â€œUm, nay,” she said, trying to step around him. “I fear I have many, many chores to do.”
    â€œChores? Surely my company is far more desirable than any chore.”
    Personally, she’d rather clean the cesspit.
    He stepped in front of her, cutting off her escape. “Come now, sweet Emily. I know how lonely you are here. Surely you dream of a man to come and claim you for his own?”
    Aye, she did, but the key word was man . Since she barely classified Theodore as a bedbug, he would never be the one she dreamed of at night.
    He reached out and touched her veil to the side of her face in a familiar gesture that made her cock her brow in censure. He disregarded her look. “You’re fast passing your prime, milady. Perhaps you should consider doing as your sister did in order to gain yourself a husband.”
    Emily didn’t know what part of that offended her more. The insult to her age or the reminder of her sister’s shame at being caught abed with Theodore’s cousin.
    â€œI can find my own husband, thank you,” she said icily. “And without any help from