A Lascivious Lady Read Online Free

before their nuptials, not that it mattered a whit to him. Traverson had stolen her away from the love of her life, and expected her to be happy about! Was it no wonder she had acted so recklessly and found herself in William’s bed three nights after her marriage vows? Yes, she blamed it on the wine… and William for taking advantage of her at her weakest moment, but she could blame only herself for the time after that… and the time after that… and the time after that.
    I should have married William instead of Traverson, she thought fiercely. I should have been a Duchess, presiding over a grand estate. I would have been so very happy.
    She sighed. There was no use recanting the past, nor playing the game of ‘should have been’. Her life was what it was. She and Traverson were married in name only, which suited them both. She had her affairs to distract her; he his insects. Their paths rarely, if ever, crossed. It was a suitable arrangement for two people who had absolutely nothing in common except their last names. A sensible one. One that had worked splendidly up until she had seen Traverson at her friend’s wedding and all of her old, confused feelings, long suppressed, had come rushing back…
    Drawn back to the present when she heard her maid gently clear her throat, Josephine hurriedly finished her recollection of the events that has just transpired downstairs.
    “And then he gave me an insect as a gift.” Pushing herself up from the bathtub that she had been soaking in for the past half hour, she automatically held up her arms and waited until Amelia had wrapped her in a silk robe before she flounced across the room to pick out an outfit.
    “An insect? ’E did not!” Amelia’s eyebrows, as bright red as her hair, shot up. “Well, he does like those sorts of creepy crawly things. Mayhap in his mind he was givin’ ye a diamond.” She grinned mischievously. “Or a sapphire. Ain’t them jay beetles blue?”
    “Red. And it was a cardinal beetle, not a jay. Honestly Melly, do you ever listen to a word I say?”
    The maid shrugged. “I knew it was some sort ah bird. No need tae get cross with me just ‘cause yer cross with the Master.”
    Holding a yellow gown with intricate lace detailing at the cuffs and neckline up to her chest, Josephine faced the full length mirror in the corner of the room. “Traverson is not the ‘Master’, and I am not cross with him. I feel nothing for him. Does this wash out my hair?”
    “A bit,” Amelia said. Perching on the edge of the neatly made bed, she leaned forward onto her knees and cast an appraising glance at Josephine’s bulging armoire. “Try the plum with the black trim. It brings out yer eyes and ye know how the Master feels aboot yer eyes.”
    Tossing the yellow gown aside, Josephine glowered at her maid’s reflection in the mirror. “Melly,” she began, her voice falsely sweet, “do call him that one more time. I positively dare you.”
    Nonplussed by her mistress’s threats – Amelia had learned long ago that Josephine loved to give them, but rarely acted upon them – she turned her hand inward and studied her nails, her brow furrowing as she noted they were all chipped short and red from the burning lye soap the wash required. Some day, she thought determinedly, I shall have hands as fine as a lady’s and too many gowns to count.
    “Well?” Josephine said expectantly, and Amelia shifted from side to side as she realized she had stopped listening yet again. To be honest it was not a particularly hard thing to do. Whether she admitted it or not, there was only one thing Josephine could complain about for hours on end and that was, of course, the husband she proclaimed to despise with every breath she drew.
    Amelia was of the not so silent opinion that that meant Josephine was in love with the handsome Earl, for the few people she truly despised – her father and eldest brother being among them – she never spoke a word about.
    “Well