The Courtesan's Secret Read Free

chair.
    Sophia nodded and smiled in approval.
    Whatever alarm Louisa felt upon receipt of that rather calculating smile, she suppressed. Ruthlessly. Dutton, and her pearls, were worth it.
    "Perfect," Sophia said softly. "We shall get on splendidly. I do so enjoy it when my dictates are followed to the letter."
    "Dictates?" Louisa said, her previously repressed alarm baying vigorously.
    Sophia shrugged delicately. " Mandates? Counsel? Instruction? Choose the word that best pleases you. As long as we are in agreement as to what shall happen. I shall instruct and you shall obey."
    Louisa was almost entirely certain that she had never obeyed anyone in her life. If not for the compelling nature of Lord Dutton and her compelling need to get possession of her pearls, she would have refused Sophia baldly. But she could not. She needed her pearls. She wanted Dutton. Or perhaps it was that she wanted her pearls and she needed Dutton. She didn't suppose it mattered as long as she gained possession of both.
    "In the pursuit of my pearls," Louisa qualified.
    "Naturally," Sophia said, her dark eyes gleaming. "A woman simply must have her pearls. And the man who took them from her must be punished."
    "Punished? Oh, no. Not at all necessary," Louisa said abruptly. "I'm quite certain that my father is entirely to blame for selling my pearls. Lord Dutton can hardly be held at fault for buying them."
    "Really?" Sophia said softly. "I'm equally certain that he could have purchased someone else's pearls with little effort. It seems entirely too convenient to me that he would practically steal your pearls from off your very elegant neck and proceed to make a public spectacle of presenting them to another woman. Though the other woman happens to have been my daughter, it wasn't very chivalrous of him, was it? I can state without hesitation that Caroline in no way expressed an interest in either Lord Dutton or any pearls he might happen to have found himself in possession of. The entire pearl spectacle as it involved Caroline and Lord Dutton was entirely Lord Dutton's idea."
    Louisa hadn't considered that. Had Dutton made it a particular point to acquire her pearls? Had he done it to entice her? Or had he done it to insult her? And why had he done it with Lady Caroline at the most interesting assemblie of the Season?
    With Dutton, either course was as likely. He was flagrantly adept at both enticement and insult. It made for a most exhausting romance, particularly as she was becoming more and more certain that she was the only person present in the romance. Dutton, inexplicably, did not seem to have succumbed to her obvious appeal and she had, to be brutally honest, given him ample opportunity to succumb.
    She was, she was becoming increasingly certain, hopelessly in love with the Marquis of Dutton, and he was not, despite her best efforts, falling hopelessly in love with her.
    It was inexplicable. Yet, it appeared to be true.
    It was on the heels of that rather unpleasant thought that the door to the white salon opened and Fredericks entered with her cup.
    "The gentlemen have returned, Lady Dalby," Fredericks said in an undertone. "With guests. Will you admit them?"
    Sophia turned her dark gaze to Fredericks and said serenely, "With guests? Male, I presume." To which Fredericks nodded with entirely more amusement than was proper in a proper butler. He was an American; Louisa supposed that must answer for his coarse familiarity. "By all means. Admit them," Sophia said, her eyes on Louisa. Louisa resisted the urge to shift her weight on the fine white silk damask of her chair. "I think this will be most instructive, Lady Louisa. Do try and enjoy yourself fully."
    It was a most odd remark to make. Louisa did not like it in the least.
    And it was on the heels of that rather unpleasant thought that the door to the white salon opened and a parade of men of the most singular attractiveness walked into the room. It was quite impossible to form a coherent