The Art of Ruining a Rake Read Online Free Page B

she had no hope of that. Those people who weren’t told by Mrs. Strickett or one of her tale-telling friends would see it in the scandal sheets. Lucy was going to be publicly humiliated.
    She’d lose her school.
    She’d lose her reputation.
    She’d lose her brother’s sympathy, however scarcely it had been doled before.
    Most importantly, she’d lose her autonomy.
    Another sob burst from her.
    Roman pivoted to face her. His clothing had been returned to its proper place. He stood at an indolent angle, regarding her with just a hint of a smile. A picture of carefree gentility, as if her world hadn’t just broken apart around her. “We do need to quit meeting like this, Miss Lancester.”
    She swiped at her tears with ink-tipped fingers and tried to forget the taste of him on her lips. “I needn’t ask how you can be so cavalier, given your history.”
    “It’s not polite to refer to the other young ladies you think your lover has compromised.” Despite his flippancy, his tone had an edge.
    She pushed herself from her desk and began to pace. Focusing her thoughts had always been the best course to settle her high spirits. What to do, what to do? Did she need to hold an audience with Mr. Strickett and his wife? Was it better if she left them to collect their daughter and leave, or should she try to explain? What was there to explain? Even if they didn’t think she and Roman had been in flagrante delicto, they’d been kissing, and her legs had been wrapped around his hips, and—Zeus, but there was no hope Mrs. Strickett could be brought to believe anything chaste had been occurring.
    “Lucy, stop.” Roman strode toward her and grabbed her hand. “You’re panicking. Don’t panic. It can’t help us.”
    She stopped and pinned him with a black look, hating that he was right. She was quickly going mad. “ I’m the one whose reputation has been served to the wolves. You’ll do what you always do. Walk away.”
    His jaw tightened. “Is that what I did before?”
    She faltered, remembering how quickly he’d offered her marriage last spring. “No.”
    He took another step toward her. Her heart stuttered.  
    “Whose fault is it we aren’t married?” he asked her, his body rigid with tension. “We could be doing this—” He tugged her hand hard enough to bring her stumbling into his chest. Her palm splayed across his waistcoat, holding him back as his handsome face filled with disconcerting seriousness. “Every night. Without consequences.”
    Oh, but he was wrong. There would be consequences. Her broken heart, for one. His cold, dead body for another. When she looked at him, all she saw was his blood on her hands.
    She tried to pull away, but he held her tightly against him. “Release me.”
    “Trestin won’t let us out of it so easily this time. Marry me before he leaves us no choice.” Roman’s smile didn’t meet his eyes. “I’ll be the happiest man in the world.”
    She pushed so hard against his chest, he finally freed her. She spun away and moved behind her desk. The papers concealing her letter knife had been disturbed by their lovemaking. Its silver blade gleamed in the sunlight. “A woman would have to be mad to marry you.”
    He cocked his head as if trying to make sense of her words. “Then your answer is no?”
    Her breasts heaved against her desire to say yes. Yes, yes. “No matter how many times you ask me, the answer is the same. Now, you’d best go before my staff returns. There is no longer any point in holding Mr. Mowry back.”
    “You want me to leave?” he asked incredulously. “When your future is so uncertain? What kind of man do you think I am?”
    What kind of man, indeed. She knew exactly what kind. The sort best kept far, far away from her. “I would rather be ruined than bound to you.”
    His laughter rang hollow. “Pray, Lucy-love, what the devil have I done to earn your contempt? Doesn’t a fellow deserve to have his crimes read aloud to him?”
    Rage built