Sinful (Hot Regency Romance Novella) Read Online Free Page B

confirmed as the
long-lost heir to the Delamore title, he could give her the
come-out she deserved.
    Lyan paused with his hands on the smooth,
painted railings that framed the steps. Earl of Delamore. He’d never believed his mother’s tale—that she’d been wed at
sixteen to an earl’s younger son, abandoned by him, and finally
widowed when the young man had died of consumption. Lyan had known
nothing but guilt when the solicitor found him and told him her
story had been the truth.
    His mother had married again when he was
nine, to a Whitechapel butcher. When that man died three years
later, they were all out on the street again, but this time his
mother also had Laura, a fragile little child of two.
    Lyan jogged up the steps, opened his glossy
blue door, and stepped into his spacious, marble-tiled foyer. He
handed his greatcoat and gloves to a footman, and he shook his head
at the vagaries of fate.
    Even at twelve, when they had been tossed out
of their meager home, he had vowed he would keep Laura safe, no
matter what. It was a man’s duty to take care of the women who
relied upon him. He’d always sworn he would never leave a wife the
way his father had deserted his mother. Ironically, he had been the
one abandoned.
    “Lyan!”
    Laura leapt to the bottom of the stairs,
sailing down a half-flight, her muslin skirts flying up. He fought
to look disapproving of her boisterous behavior, but it didn’t
work. She gazed at his raised brow and giggled. Thieves might quake
in fear when he confronted them, but his sister just laughed.
    “It was all the talk at Gunter’s today,” she
cried, “that you were investigating at Madame Desjardins’ dress
shop. Heavens, what were you looking for there?” Her dark green
eyes were alight with humor and she flashed a coy smile. “Some of
the ladies are speculating you were hunting for a potential
bride—by going where you could view the debutantes in their
underclothes.”
    He groaned, then embraced Laura and planted a
kiss on the top of her midnight-black curls. “You know I wasn’t
doing that.”
    He had a bride. He had made a vow to Sally
Thomas. It still stood, in his mind, legal or not. Whether either
of them wanted it or not.
    “Good.” Laura nodded. She was no longer frail
and sickly, but healthy and strong. That was why he couldn’t bring
himself to seriously chastise her when she didn’t behave exactly
like a proper young lady. Even though Mrs. Fennings had insisted
that Laura must quell her natural high spirits.
    Mrs. Fennings, widow of an earl’s brother and
a haughty martinet, had been employed to oversee his sister’s
come-out. The woman could bring a man to his knees with her glare.
Lyan had often wondered about trying to convince her to partner
with him in the pursuit of criminals.
    Laura laid her hand on his arm, her eyes
dancing. “I have an appointment there tomorrow for a ball gown. I
should hate to think the door was barred to me because my brother
was trying to see ladies in their corsets.”
    He felt his brow arch higher, but the irony
of it struck him. In the course of his work, he often questioned
madams and prostitutes. He’d seen more ladies in corsets—and out of
them—than he could count. Not one of them had ever haunted him like
Sally. “You are going to Madame Desjardins’ shop?”
    “Mrs. Fennings says I must, now that you are
to be an earl. But I hate all the dull fittings. I’d much rather
stay at home and read a book.” She assessed him quizzically. “Has
Madame Desjardins committed some kind of crime?”
    Did breaking his heart a long time ago count
as a crime? He sighed. “I don’t yet know.” Laura knew a little
about Lady Maryanne’s disappearance. Since she was a similar age to
the missing girl, he’d wanted to know Laura’s thoughts, hoping they
would give him insight into Lady Maryanne. “It is the last place
Lady Maryanne is thought to have gone.”
    “But she wasn’t in Gretna Green?”
    “No. You sound