Read The Secret Life of Lady Lucinda for Free Online Page A

intent is to have me do your bidding. That’s why you wish to keep me by your side, and you’re hoping to do so under the pretext of desiring to better our acquaintance. You are sly in your attempts at manipulation, but you forget who you’re dealing with.”
    Of course he was right, but Lucy knew better than to admit as much. Her only hope right now was that of retreat. “Let’s forget about my reasons for wanting to marry you for now. It’s nothing that cannot wait a while longer. Considering that we are bound to each other for life, whether it be for better or for worse, I think it prudent for both of us to try and make this marriage work—don’t you?”
    William pondered that for a moment. In truth, he longed for nothing more than to dump the wretched woman at Moorland and then head back to London in the hopes of forgetting all about her. However, he couldn’t deny that the duration of his marriage might be made a little more bearable if he and his wife were given the opportunity to make amends and move past this bumpy beginning of theirs. “What do you have in mind?” he asked.
    “I thought perhaps a wedding trip might be a good start—an escape from all of this and a chance for us to spend some time together.”
    William stared at her in horror. A wedding trip? Who the devil had ever conceived of such a ghastly thing? “You do realize that I’m a man and not a girl in a frilly dress?”
    His wife’s cheeks colored instantly. “Yes,” she muttered with a hint of awkward embarrassment. “It would indeed be difficult for me not to notice as much, my lord.”
    Something about the way in which she said that pleased him immensely. “Ah, a compliment at last.” His smile, as brief as it was, was at least genuine. His curiosity peeked, he narrowed his eyes on her. “If I were to agree to such a thing, might I ask where you’d like to go?”
    Lucy’s eyes met his in a deadpan stare as her lips curved into a charming smile that instantly made him feel as if his heart had just been dislodged from his chest. “Constantinople,” she told him sweetly.
    “Constantinople?” Well, the woman was certainly full of surprises. “A tad bit further than I’d imagined. Why the devil would you want to go there?”
    “It has long since been a dream of mine,” Lucy told him, her eyes straying to the window of the carriage. She was quiet for a moment, her thoughts clearly elsewhere until her gaze returned to him, and she said, “I’ve read a great deal about the people there, the culture, and the history. It intrigues me.”
    William was stumped. Perhaps there was more depth to her than he’d imagined. Indeed, he doubted that Lady Annabelle would have cared to venture across the Channel at all, much less as far as the Ottoman Empire. His own adventurous spirit relished the notion, though he wasn’t about to let his wife know it just yet; she still deserved to languish a little. “Hm…I will think on it, my dear, and give you my answer in the morning.” The carriage rolled to a sudden halt, rocking it abruptly from side to side. “In the meantime, it does appear as though we have arrived at our destination.”
    Lucy looked startled, as if she’d been so caught up in their conversation that she’d lost track of both time and place. She picked up her reticule, which had been lying on the seat next to her. “Thank you,” she said just as William was readying himself to alight, “for considering my request. It’s most gracious of you.”
    He couldn’t help but feel as if he was missing something, and it filled him with uneasiness. “Make no mistake—as tempting as a trip to Constantinople in your company might be, I do not make a habit of handing out free favors. You will repay me for this, and you will begin to do so by committing to your wifely duties.”
    Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but William stopped her. “One word of protest and Constantinople will remain but a dream. My motive for marrying