Twice the Temptation Read Free Page A

countenance, and appearance of prosperity was a veneer as thickly coated as the paint used to deface the public walls in Covent Garden. Unfortunately for him, the debts owed to his creditors couldn’t be gotten off with turpentine and a rigorous scrubbing.
    Far more intolerable had been the improper advances he’d made toward Jillian, the then seventeen-year-old mulatto girl her sister had brought back with her from America. To Charlotte, Jillian was more than a servant, she was family, and her sister treated her as such, as the rest of the family was inclined to.
    Jillian’s beauty, however, had become her own cross to bear in the form of much unwanted attention from gentlemen—gentry and aristocrat alike—who thought her ripe for the picking. A beautiful young thing they could trifle with, with no fear of consequences.
    “Miss Rutherford, I feel you are the only one I can turn to.” Miss Claremont’s voice broke and her eyes implored. “After the whole affair with Lord Ashmore, I no longer trust my own judgment or a man’s word. I don’t think I could survive another scandal, another broken engagement. And I would be miserable in a marriage in which I’m expected to tolerate a husband dallying with other women.”
    Catherine couldn’t agree with her more on that . But what she’d proposed—wasn’t this its own form of deception? But an almost negligible bit of deception for a much bigger and worthier cause. And what could be more worthy than a person’s happiness.
    It simply wasn’t fair. Men were heavily favored in the whole manner of courting and marriage. The choice was theirs to make in picking this girl or that one. And should a wife decide to take a lover, her husband could ruin her with divorce. But if he were to take a mistress, his wife, of course, would have no grounds to divorce him .
    As if sensing the tumult of her thoughts, Miss Claremont said, “You don’t have to give me an answer now. But I do beg you to think on it.” She then offered a tentative smile and stood, drawing the meeting to a close.
    Catherine quickly followed her lead and then proceeded to escort her out.
    Five minutes later, she stood at the window in the morning room and watched Miss Claremont depart in a black-lacquered carriage.
    She sighed as she turned from the window. What was she to do?
    I don’t trust my own judgment. Those words haunted her for she knew the feeling well.
    Prior to Lord Braddock’s courtship, several gentlemen had courted her but she hadn’t been in love with any of them. And despite some regrets she had in regards to those courtships, marrying someone she didn’t love was the one thing she refused to do. At least her judgment in refusing those men had been sound.
    Lucas had been different.
    It was almost as if she had loved him from the start, and she’d been convinced he intended to court her—to marry her. And the liberties she’d permitted him and the ferocity of her response had surprised and thrilled her. She’d never thought a kiss, a touch could spark that kind of desire and passion. But one day he’d been kissing her senseless and breathless, the next day he was gone.
    Gone.
    While Lord Braddock actions had embarrassed and humiliated her, had she loved him, his betrayal would have wreaked utter emotional devastation. It had not. Lucas had taken care of that. For as sure as the sun rose and set every day, he had broken her heart, so in that, she could and did sympathize with Miss Claremont.
    I shall do it, Catherine thought with a decisive nod. If this would save Miss Claremont the fate of an unhappy marriage and a broken heart, it would be well worth whatever discomfort she’d have to endure.

 
     
     
     
    C HAPTER T WO
     

     
    London – Seven months later
     
    A mink shawl covered her shoulders and arms, warding off much of the cold, but it complemented the fairly modest “V” of the neckline of her ball gown. Catherine pulled it tighter about her.
    Ears perked, she