Page 14 of His Wicked Embrace
Do not seduce her. Be a gentleman. She deserves that much fromyou.
She left the dressing room, giving him a minute to cool himself down. After he’d finished getting dressed, he exited his dressing room and found Zehra by the freshly lit fire, a book in herhands.
“Catching up on a bit of reading?” He winced, regretting his poor choice of words. It wasn’t as if they had books on board slave ships. “I’m sorry. I didn’tmean…”
She looked up, a small smile on her lips. “It is all right. I understand what you meant. And this is certainly an interesting book. This woman finds herself stranded on an island after her ship breaks apart on the rocks. She swims to shore but is utterly alone until she spies a figure on a distanthill…”
“Aw… You found out my secret.” He recognized the book. It was calledLady Isabelle and the Lord of the Dark Isle. It was one of L. R. Gloucester’s works, a rather torrid Gothicnovel.
“Your secret?” Zehra’s eyesnarrowed.
He chuckled. “Yes, I like to read novels. This one is a bit…well, I won’t spoil it for you.” He couldn’t wait to see what she thought when she reached the scene where the mysterious lord makes love to Isabelle in the library after dinner in his castle. Would Zehra find any pleasure in that? Or would she be outraged and scandalized? He hoped it was the former. She didn’t seem to be the sort of woman who abhorred pleasure; there was an openness and sensuality to her that he could notmiss.
“Hmm.” She turned her attention back to the book, but he had the distinct impression that the second he turned his back on her, she would be watchinghim.
Appreciate the view, Miss Darzi, because I will be sure to do thesame.
With a sly grin, he exited his chambers and called for a footman to fill the bath again. He also found one of the upstairs maids, a girl named Eva, to tend to Zehra for now while they searched for a propermaid.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs and entered his study, he skidded to a halt. Someone was sitting at his desk, looking over some papers. Avery looked up, and his expression was filled with disappointment, just as he’dexpected.
“How the bloody hell did you get in here? MacTavish would’ve sent forme.”
Avery scoffed. “Not likely, brother. If old MacTavish had heard me, I would not be fit for myduties.”
Lawrence crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for his little brother, a damned spy of all things, to start lecturinghimonmorality.
“Well?” Avery asked expectantly, still seated at Lawrence’s desk. The position of control had been put in Avery’s favor, and Lawrence didn’t like it onebit.
“Well, what?” he snapped back. Lord, sometimes Avery behaved just like their father. He was the only Russell child out of the entire brood who took after him. It made Avery their mother’sfavorite.
“Well, where is she? Yourslave?”
“What slave?” Lawrence said. He saw no point in making this easy forhim.
“The one you paid seven thousand bloody pounds for!Thatslave!” Avery’s last two words dripped with a quiet outrage that shocked Lawrence. Lawrence was a bit of a bounder, he knew. Arguably the worst-behaved of the siblings now that Lucien had settled down. But surely Avery didn’t honestly think he would actually stoop to buying aslave?
“She’s not a slave,” Lawrence growled. “I saved her. Your damned men arrived late—the blasted auction had already started. I couldn’t let any of those men take her away. She would’ve been…” He refused to complete thesentence.
Avery’s anger seemed to ebb. “Wonderful. So you took her to the Bow Street offices after you secured hersafety?”
“No, butwait—”
Avery was on his feet and already on top of Lawrence. Avery shoved his brother hard against thewall.
“Whereis she?” Averybellowed.
The ease with which he had been subdued reminded Lawrence just how dangerous an agent of the Crown could be. He wasn’t used to seeing this side of his brother, but after a moment of shock herecovered.
“Get your bloody hands off me or so helpme—”
“You’ll what?” Avery challenged, menace layering every word. Again, Lawrence was struck by this change in his brother’s tone. He was like a damned vengefulgod.
“Avery, what the devil is the matter with you? You know I’d never hurt a womanor…”
Avery hissed but let go of him and stepped back so he could pace the length of thestudy.
“I’m sorry, Lawrence. It’s just…after what I’ve been through last night…” Avery’s face changed, sorrow carved in his features. “We foundbodiesfloating in the harbor. That was in part what caused our delay. They must have been the ones who died before the ship docked. The tides at the port have been washing them in. I can’t close my eyes without imagining those poor women in their finalhours…”
