Page 22 of The Truth About Lord Stoneville

At the sound of the heavy knob turning, he cursed under his breath. She was coming in, damn it!

To stop Maria before she ruined everything, he grabbed her about the waist, hauled her against him, and sealed his mouth to hers.

At first she seemed too stunned to do anything. When after a moment, he felt her trying to draw back from him, he caught her behind the neck with an iron grip.

“Oh,” Gran said in a stiff voice. “Beg pardon.”

Dimly he heard the door close and footsteps retreating, but before he could let Maria go, a searing pain shot through his groin, making him see stars. Blast her, the woman had kneed him in the ballocks!

As he doubled over, fighting to keep from passing out, she snapped, “Thatwas for making melooklike a whore, too!”

When she turned for the door, he choked out, “Wait!”

“Why should I?” she said, heading inexorably forward. “You’ve done nothing but insult and humiliate me before your family.”

Still reeling, he presented his only ace in the hole. “If you return to town,” he called after her, “what will you do about your Nathan?”

That halted her, thank God.

He forced himself to straighten, though the room spun a little. “You still need my help, you know.”

Slowly, she faced him. “So far you haven’t demonstrated any genuine intent to offer help,” she said icily.

“But I will.” He gulped down air, struggling for mastery over his pain. “Tomorrow we’ll return to town and hire a runner. I know one who’s very adept. You can tell him everything you’ve learned so far about your fiancé’s disappearance, and I’ll make sure he pursues it.”

“And in exchange, all I have to do is pretend to be awhore.”

He grimaced. Christ, she felt strongly about this. He should have known that any woman who would thrust a sword at him wouldn’t be easily bullied.

“No.”

“No, what?” she demanded.

“You needn’t pretend to be a whore. Just don’t leave. This can still work.”

“I don’t see how,” she shot back. “You’ve already said we met in a brothel. Telling them we’re thieves is no better. I won’t have them thinking that we’re about to steal you blind.”

“I’ll come up with some story, don’t worry,” he clipped out.

“Something else to make me sound like a low, grasping schemer?”

“No.”She had him cornered, and she knew it. “Trust me, your background alone is enough to alarm Gran. She pretends not to mind it right now, but she won’t let it go on. Just stay. I’ll make it right, I swear.”

She glanced away, her face troubled. “I don’t know if Ican believe you. How can I trust a man who has all this at his command?” She swept her hand to encompass the library. “You’re used to demanding what you want, to ordering everyone around.”

Sheer frustration caught him in the chest. Though that was true, the excesses of Halstead Hall or his title had never before been considered a deficit in his character. Any other woman would have thrown herself at his feet for them.

AnyEnglishwoman. Americans were a different breed entirely. The irony was that the house and its trappings were nothing without the money to support it, and she was too unfamiliar with the workings of the aristocracy to realize it. She saw only its ancient charms.

“Look,” he said, “we both know you don’t want to travel back to London at this hour. Stay tonight. Eat dinner, sleep in a comfortable bed.” When her pugnacious chin rose, he added swiftly, “Make a good try at playing my fiancée, and in the morning we’ll go to town. If anything else happens tonight to displease you and you want to part ways tomorrow, we’ll call everything even.”

An uncertain look passed over her features. “You won’t try to kiss me again?”

“Given your method for handling that problem? No. I don’t particularly like pain.”

She narrowed her gaze. “And if I say I don’t want to keep up the masquerade tomorrow, you won’t try to throw me and Freddy in the gaol?”

“No. But neither will I hire a runner to find your fiancé. It’ll be your choice tomorrow.” He hardened his voice.“Whereas if you try to leave tonight, I swear I’ll have you both charged with theft.”