Read No Man's Mistress for Free Online Page A

respectable employment. Or a relative willing to take you in.”
    Viola laughed scornfully. “Perhaps the Duchess of Tresham could do that for
you
, m
y
lord,” she suggested. “Find you respectable employment, that is. Gamblers frequently find their pockets to let, I understand. And gamblers are invariably gentlemen who have nothing more meaningful to do with their lives.”
    He raised his eyebrows and looked at her in some astonishment. “You
do
have a sharp tongue,” he said. “Who are you? Have I seen you somewhere before? Before yesterday, that is?”
    It was entirely possible. Though no one else in the neighborhood of Pinewood had. That had always been a large part of its charm. The only twinge of alarm she had felt at first downstairs—it seemed laughable now—had come with Mr. Jarvey's introduction of yesterday's handsome stranger as Lord Ferdinand Dudley—a member of the
ton
, possibly someone who lived much of his life in London and had perhaps done so for several years. She guessed that he must be in his late twenties.
    “Viola Thornhill,” she told him. “And I have never seen you before yesterday. I would have remembered.”
    He nodded, but his brows were still knitted in thought. He was obviously trying to remember where it was he had seen her before, if anywhere. She could have offered a few suggestions, though it was true she had never seen him before yesterday.
    “Well,” he said briskly, shaking his head, “I will take myself off back to Trellick, Miss Thornhill. It is Miss, not Mrs.?” She inclined her head. “For seven nights, though I must beg leave to intrude upon you here in the daytime. If you need my assistance in planning your journey, feel free to ask for it.”
    He strode past her across the room, all masculine arrogance and energy and power. Yesterday's dream transformed into today's nightmare. She looked after him with intense hatred.
    “Lord Ferdinand,” she said as his hand closed about the doorknob, “I do not believe you heard me a moment ago. Until I have seen that will, I am going nowhere. I will be remaining here in my own house and my own home. I will not give in to bluster and bullying. If you were a gentleman, you would not even ask it of me.”
    When he turned, she could see that she had angered him. His eyes looked very black. His brows had drawn together. His nostrils were flared, making his nose look sharper, almost hooked, and his lips were set in a grim line. He looked altogether more formidable than he had a moment before. Viola glared defiantly at him.
    “If I were a
gentleman?”
he said, so softly that despite herself she felt a shiver of apprehension curl about her spine. “If you were a
lady
, ma'am, you would accept with grace what has happened through no fault of mine. I am not answerable for the failure of the late earl to keep his promise to you, or for his son's choosing to bet an estate instead of money on the outcome of a card game. The simple fact is that Pinewood Manor is
mine
. It was my plan a moment ago to inconvenience myself out of deference to your sensibilities and the awkwardness of your situation. It is no longer my plan. I will be taking up residence here immediately. It is
you
who will stay at theBoar's Head tonight. But as a
gentleman
, I will send a maid with you and have the bill sent to me.”
    “I will be sleeping here, in my own house, in my own bed,” she told him, holding his gaze.
    The air fairly crackled with the clashing of their wills.
    His eyes narrowed. “Then you must share the house with me,” he told her. “With someone you have accused of being less than a gentleman. Perhaps, as well as being a dissolute gamer, I am also possessed of unbridled sexual appetites. Perhaps last evening gave you only the glimmering of a hint of what I am capable of when my passions are aroused. Are you sure you wish to put your person and your reputation at such risk?”
    She might have laughed if she had not been so incensed.
    She