Read Blood Wicked for Free Online Page A

die, my lord. They drink excessively, they live hard, and they die.” She set the decanter down with a harsh clank. “Who is your brother, my lord? How could you think I’ve had anything to do with him? I do not even know who he is.”
    “His name was Raine. Raine Winthrope.” Pain vibrated in his voice. “Brother to the Earl of Blackmoor.” He took a deep breath. “He looks like me, only he is more handsome.” He grinned at that, lines cascading around his sensual mouth. But his eyes threw light back at her, cold and untouched by his brief show of amusement.
    Fear slithered through her veins. What would happen if she could
not
pay Mrs. Holt’s price? “Why do you think I had anything to do with your brother? Or his disappearance?”
    “I saw you.”
    Her hand tightened on the glass decanter. “You could not have done. It is impossible. I have never been with him. I do not know any man named Raine. And I have never before seen any man who looked like you.” Which was true. All her lovers had been delectably handsome, but none had eyes that shone like moonlight in the shadows or a smile that made her legsjelly, or displayed a lithe, animal grace even without moving at all. She’d never seen a man with dark auburn hair and a strong chiseled jaw. With such sharp cheekbones and oddly slanted auburn eyebrows.
    “Then how could I have seen you standing at his side?”
    “Quite possibly because you are mad?” she threw at him. Inwardly she cursed. Hardly a way to begin a seduction. “I didn’t mean that,” she said softly. She moved to him, letting her hips sway, using the walk that was said to mesmerize men. And he stared at her every step of the way. “Not after what you have done for me. Of course it has not escaped my notice either that my former lovers were killed. But
I
didn’t do it.”
    One tug of his hand ripped his cravat in half. His collar points fell away from his throat, exposing pale skin, skin that seemed to glitter in the light. She watched him swallow. “And you believe I’ll accept that?”
    “Why would I have done it? I would gain nothing by killing those men. They were … friends. I cared for them. I didn’t get any money when they died. I had no reason to hurt them.”
    Light fell over her, cast by his reflective eyes. “So who do you think did it?”
    She had the sense he was playing with her. “I don’t know. Perhaps they could have been poisoned. Perhaps that was why all their hearts gave out. They were titled. Someone benefited from their deaths.”
    “True. Who is Sarah’s father?”
    She blinked. Why on earth would he ask that? “You can’t think Sarah’s
father
killed those men out of jealousy. I was a courtesan. Men didn’t love me. They possessed me for a little while, until a shiny, new temptation came along.”
    “You said you
were
a courtesan. I thought, pretty one, you still are.”
    “I—I’m not. I accepted nothing from those men. I didn’t ask them to buy me.”
    She could feel his gaze. She poured brandy, but for herself. “Why not?”
    “I have everything I need.” Except Sarah’s health. Except the certainty my daughter will live.
    “You seduced them to pay the old crone for her medicine. Why would she ask that of you?”
    “I don’t
know
. Don’t you think I’ve asked that a thousand times? And she says nothing in answer!”
    She stood only a couple of feet from his boots now. She moved around them, to the side of his chair, and she lowered herself to her knees.
    Men liked submission. Just doing this, this one simple gesture, and she would normally have a man. A little bit of submission could put a woman in control.
    He shook his head, a rueful smile quirking his lips. “There is no point trying to seduce me when you look like you’re going to collapse with exhaustion, love. Go to bed. Go to sleep.”
    She had to do this. Had to. But he got to his feet so swiftly, she didn’t see him move. “Come to bed with me?” she asked