Too Wicked to Love Read Free Page A

girl, but I see her more as your little sister, not to mention your former fiancée. And as for the fortune—”
    Samuel scowled and folded his arms. “Don’t you dare tell me again that you don’t want the money, John. You spent your own savings to come and find me when Raventhorpe left me for dead. Fate was kind enough to hand us a pirate’s treasure in return, and you deserve half of it.”
    “As I started to say, I would be grateful for my share once we get back to America.”
    Samuel blinked. “Well, hell. What’s gotten into you today? I thought I would have to tie you down and shove the money down your throat.”
    “Maybe weddings make me sentimental.”
    “Oh, right. Certainly that must be it.” Samuel fixed him with blatant look of disbelief.
    “Leave off, Samuel,” John said, heading for the door. “You’re not my captain any longer. Or my employer for that matter since you no longer need a coachman.”
    “Then what the hell am I?”
    John stopped with his hand on the doorknob and met Samuel’s gaze. “My one true friend.”
    The anger fled Samuel’s expression like steam escaping a boiling pot. “I just want to help you,” he said.
    “I know. But some things are better left alone.”
    Samuel nodded. “All right. Thank you for protecting Annabelle while we’re gone.”
    “You are welcome.” John opened the door.
    “If it helps,” Samuel said, making John pause at his words, “the Baileys intend to leave London for Nevarton Chase tomorrow. So you’ll be out of the city and sequestered in happy obscurity in the country.”
    “Good news indeed.” John hesitated, then said, “Be happy Samuel. Enough for both of us.”
    He left the study, shutting the door before his friend could respond.
    Genny jerked free of Bradley’s hold and backed up a step, shaking off the nostalgia of the past. Bradley Overton did not like to lose, and she had bested him by breaking off their courtship last year. And as for the last time they had been alone together. . .
    She preferred not to relive the crowning jewel of her humiliation. That was the past. She was a different woman now. “Let me pass, Bradley. My parents will be missing me.”
    Bradley did not budge, his gaze intent like a spider with its prey. “Come now, Genny. Let’s not part in anger.”
    “Too late for that.” She tried to pass him again, but this time when he reached for her, she snatched up one of her mother’s cherub figurines from a nearby table and raised it like a weapon. “Touch me again, and your head will be ringing for weeks.”
    He slowly drew back his hand. “I suppose you are still overset about what happened between us.”
    “Overset!” Her voice ended on a squeak of outrage, and she forced herself to take a breath. “I am not overset. Overset would indicate that I cared anything for you or what you think. And that is just not true.”
    “Then why did you just threaten me with Cupid?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Perhaps you have heard my name recently linked with Miss Fitzwarren’s?”
    “Certainly not.”
    “Maybe you are jealous. I know she is your friend.”
    “Hardly jealous,” Genny said, “but perhaps I should warn her of your talent for spinning falsehoods.”
    “The rumors are not true, you know. You are the only woman I have ever wanted to wed.”
    The knowledge that such an utterance would once have filled her heart with joy only added to the bitter taste of shame at her own naïveté. How could she have been so easily fooled by a charismatic smile and a few well-chosen words? Was she truly so gullible? So hungry for someone to love her that she would accept even this sham of the real thing?
    “Do you miss us, what we had?” He lowered his voice as he came closer, backing her into the corner between the door and the table. The scent of the cigars he favored filled the air between them. “I cannot forget, Genny, not any of it.”
    “I already have,” she lied.
    Anger flared in his eyes,