My Fair Temptress Read Free

too!”
    “—And it wasn’t until we slipped into Cook’s bedroom that we discovered they were both terrified of spirits.” Remembering the scene and his own panic, Jude chortled.
    “Cook pulled her knife, and that man chased you all the way down from the attic while he screamed the place was haunted.” Mum clasped her hands at her chest. “I thought the house was on fire, but your father said it was probably Michael getting into trouble. And he was right.” She was laughing…while tears dribbled down her cheeks.
    “Oh, Mum.” Heart aching, Jude hugged her shoulders.
    She dug a handkerchief out of her sleeve. “No, I like to talk about him. It hurts your father to mention Michael’s name, but it keeps him alive for me, and I shall conquer this ridiculous tendency to turn into a watering can every time he’s mentioned. I swear I will.” She mopped up, then asked with forced cheer, “Now, tell me why you’re really here. Did your father send for you?”
    “I could have come to see you,” Jude protested.
    “But you didn’t. You’re having much too much fun cutting a swathe through society. Don’t you think I hear about it? Every fascinating thing you say, every wonderful thing you wear, every single young lady to whom you speak?”
    “Of course. All the old biddies in London keep you apprised.” That could cause trouble if he weren’t careful.
    With a hint of a dimple, she protested, “I’m one of those biddies.”
    “No. Not even when you wear that silly matron’s cap.” Insistently, she tugged at his sleeve, and Jude surrendered. “But you’re right. I’m here on Father’s summons. What have I done to cause him enough displeasure that he should summon me?” There was no way the old man could know the truth…was there? The duke of Nevett had his sources, but lately he hadn’t gone into society.
    “I don’t know.” Her lips trembled. “He’s been fuming ever since the word came about…ever since you returned.”
    “Without Michael.”
    “Yes, without Michael.” She wasn’t being cruel. Jude had wanted to rush home from Moricadia, to be the one who gave his parents the evil news. Alas, he had been wounded, almost killed, in the berserker fury that had possessed him after Michael’s murder, and had spent two months near death hidden in the cellar of a tavern. By the time he made his slow, secret journey back to England, it had been too late. The Home Office had already visited the duke and duchess, and Jude returned to a house draped in black crepe and filled with sorrow.
    Jude touched the signet ring that, for time eternal, had decorated the hand of Nevett’s heir. Michael had worn it with pride from the day of his eighteenth birthday. Now the worn inscription had been melted by intense fire, and if not for the glorious ruby at its heart, it would be unrecognizable. “Is Father angry at me?” Jude asked.
    “No! No, dear, not at all. He loved Michael, but he knew his propensity to rush into danger. Nevett doesn’t blame you for what happened.” She tapped his cheek. “You must believe me.”
    “I do.” Yet Jude knew the facts, and he blamed himself.
    “It seems that lately, your father’s been aware of the passage of time, and his own mortality. He had spoken again and again how he failed in his duty to Michael.”
    “ He failed. How so?”
    “Instead of allowing Michael to cut a swathe through the ladies of London society, he should have arranged a marriage for him.”
    “I would have liked to see him try.” Michael and Father had always butted heads, and on this matter Michael would have had plenty to say.
    “Your father can be autocratic when he chooses,” she warned. “He comprehends the frailty of life now, and while he has always shown the utmost of care for all of us, he now worries about Adrian, and you, and me.”
    “Then I shall assure him I live a clean life.”
    She eyed him doubtfully. “Not too clean, I’ve heard. Something about