Ravishing in Red Read Free

the draped bed that faced the fire emerged, to join its foot that the flames bathed. Pegs on the wall beside the door showed hanging fabric. The corners of the chamber finally revealed their contents. A writing table. The hulk of a wardrobe.
    A soft collection of shapes in another corner took form too, beyond the light of the fire. They gathered into something he recognized. A woman.
    Her presence made him pause. He had thought the Domino was a man. He could be forgiven that mistake, he supposed, but it had been an unfounded assumption.
    The discovery that the Domino was only a woman immediately raised his spirits. He would learn what he needed to know quickly, and make short work of this meeting.
    He smiled a smile that had charmed many women in his day. He walked toward the fireplace.
    “Please stay there,” she said. “I must insist that you do.”
    Insist, must she? That made him smile more. She had a young voice. Not girlish, though. Her appearance became more distinct as he focused on her.
    Dark hair. Perhaps that interesting color where red shoots through the brown, like a chestnut horse’s hue. Hard to judge her age, but he guessed middle twenties. Her face looked pretty, but in this light most women would be attractive. A dark shawl draped her lap and chest. Her dress appeared to be either gray or lavender, and was fairly plain from what he could see.
    “I was only going to warm myself by the fire,” he said. “The ride here drowned me.”
    Her head tipped back while she considered his explanation. “The fire then, but no closer.”
    He shed his riding coat. She visibly startled.
    “So I can hang it to dry, if you do not mind,” he explained.
    She nodded.
    He set it on one of the pegs. Accustomed now to the room’s lighting, he could tell that the other garments there were a woman’s mantle and pelisse. He took position at the fire and pretended to concentrate on its comfort, but he watched her out of the corner of his eye.
    He smiled at her again while he turned his back to the warmth. She fidgeted under that shawl.
    “I should warn you that I have a pistol.” Her voice shook with anxiety.
    “Rest assured that you will not need it.”
    She did not appear convinced. Green eyes, he thought. They expressed determination and some fear. The latter was a good sign. It indicated she was not stupid, and a bit of fear would be useful.
    “I expected a man,” he said.
    “Mr. Kelmsleigh was not available, so I am here instead. I assume that you want compensation for your information, and I am prepared to pay if the sum is reasonable.”
    He masked his stunned reaction. She thought he was the Domino. Which meant she was not, of course.
    He had never believed that the bad gunpowder that reached the front had been a matter of mere negligence on Kelmsleigh’s part, although such negligence was bad enough to ruin a man. Instead he suspected conspiracy and fraud, and he doubted Kelmsleigh had devised and controlled the scheme. All the same, he had never expected to learn that any women were involved. Now this accomplice indicated at least one had been.
    Only who the hell was she? Her identity might provide a link to the others involved in that plot.
    She watched him cautiously. He could see her fear better now. She was not what he expected, but he guessed he was a surprise to her as well.
    He had come here to pass himself off as Kelmsleigh. Instead someone else had read that advertisement and had come to buy information too.
    He changed plans. He could not be Kelmsleigh anymore. But he could be the Domino.

Chapter Two
    O h, goodness. Oh, heavens.
    This day was definitely not unfolding the way she had pictured.
    She had not expected the Domino to be a gentleman. She had certainly not expected a tall, handsome young gentleman with such a winning smile.
    She was not sure what she had anticipated instead. She only knew that it was not this.
    He seemed not at all concerned by her presence instead of her father’s, or