The Demon's Mistress Read Free Page A

of mixed blessings. She had three children set up in the world, whereas Maria had none.
    Maria sometimes felt that except for wealth, she had nothing. No, not true. She had Aunt Harriette.
    â€œHome,” she said, and as soon as the footman shut the door, the coach began to roll away from the most difficult thing she had done in her life.
    â€œWell?” asked Harriette.
    â€œI was almost too late! He was . . . No one answered the door. Some instinct made me enter anyway, and he was . . . He had a pistol in his hand, ready to fire!”
    â€œBy my soul! You promised him the money, dear? He will be different now?”
    â€œI did, but—” It had all been done in urgency and on impulse, and now reaction was setting in.
    â€œHe looked so terrible, Harriette. Haggard. Clothes all awry. The room stank of wine and he was drunk. I was going to pretend the money was an old informal debt, but I knew I couldn’t do that. He’d probably have gamed it away tomorrow!”
    â€œSo what did you do?”
    Maria bit her lip, unwilling to even put her ridiculous plan into words. “I . . . I bought him. For six weeks. For six weeks, Lord Vandeimen is to be my besotted, impeccably behaved, husband-to-be and escort.”
    Harriette’s eyes widened, but she said, “Very clever, dear! If he has any honor at all, he will have to behave well, and it may give him a chance to change.”
    â€œWill it work?”
    Harriette patted her hand. “You’ve done the best you can, dear. It will expose you to talk, though.”
    â€œOh! I’ll look like—”
    â€œA widow after tender meat.”
    â€œA tender wastrel, even. People will think me a complete fool. Or a predatory harpy. Harriette, he’s eight years younger than I am!”
    â€œI was eight years younger than Cedric.”
    â€œIt’s not the same.” Maria sucked in a deep breath. “I have to do it, though. Maurice swindled his father out of that money. Ruined him, and pushed him to suicide. I have to put it right, at any cost.”
    She leaned her head back against the satin squabs. “Did I mention that he is beautiful? Hair the color of primroses. Classic bones. Lips so perfect they could have been carved. A mess, of course, after the wild life he’s led recently, and scarred. But still, Lord Vandeimen is the most beautiful young man I ever stood face to face with.”
    And the world would think her turned idiot because of it.
    Harriette squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, dear. While you’re pulling him back from the brink, I’ll look around for a suitable young lady for him, one with a strength of character and a generous dowry.”
    Maria smiled. “Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    She firmly ignored a betraying stir of dissatisfaction with that plan.

Chapter Two
    Van woke when the clock persistently chimed. Damn it, he’d drifted into a daze or a doze. He sank his head into his hands. Wine and a sleepless night had given him a tantalizing dream. Twenty thousand pounds. If only it were true.
    He suddenly looked around the room. Had it been a dream?
    His pistol still lay on the table, but then, he’d taken it from her and put it there. She hadn’t conveniently left her shawl, or a glass slipper.
    The Golden Lily. Could his imagination really have conjured up a flesh-and-blood woman of such distinctive appearance? That long, sleekly curved elegance and smooth oval face. That creamy skin which flushed so delicately when another woman would have been beet red, and gone waxy with fear.
    Hell. He’d deliberately frightened her!
    But no one was mad enough to offer twenty thousand pounds for nothing. It must have been a dream.
    But what if—?
    He was trying to sift truth from fantasy when someone tapped tentatively on his door. His heart suddenly raced. Was she back, but more cautious