A Man Above Reproach Read Online Free

away and Mother Superior stood at the bar, surveying with a keen eye the progress she was making. Money filled her green eyes; it powered them.
    The duke laughed.
    “What?” Josephine snapped.
    “You are a terrible liar,” he smiled, his fingers on the keys. He tinkled a sweeter melody under her so-called maudlin measures. “Did I have to pay extra for honesty?”
    She adjusted the tune to match him. More eyes turned their way.
    “You came to a brothel expecting honesty?”
    “I came here expecting to leave early,” he said, “not to correct your choice of compositions. One might think you were playing a requiem right now.”
    “I am distracted.”
    “Perhaps you need a drink.” He motioned to Mother Superior and she was at their side in a flash. Elias smiled at her in a most cordial way. Josephine noted to herself that she must stop thinking of him by his first name. “My bluestocking is in need of cheering. Might we have a glass of your best wine?”
    Mother balked at the suggestion. “The girls know better than to request my private stock.”
    His eyes narrowed, flashed into hazardous black. Josephine stopped playing, her fingers hovering in time above the keys.
    “A duke is requesting.”
    As the madam slunk away, Josephine dared to look at Elias in the face fully.
    “Do you always throw around your title like this?” she whispered.
    “Never. Only in extreme situations and your frown, my dear, is an extreme situation.”
    She could not help but smile at that. Truth be told, she found those hawkish features of his dreadfully handsome. Sitting beside him for so long was putting ideas in her mind that she had not thought herself capable of after long years of observing men of his ilk. His disordered hair was begging her to put her hands in it, to tear the mask from his face, and kiss the tautness from his smirk.
My goodness, where did that thought come from?
She drew in a breath and turned her gaze back to the ivories.
    “My friend Lord Thackeray is quite taken with one of your acquaintances. Or, your ‘grand friend,’ as she called you.”
    “Yes, Sa—Crimson. They are always together when he is here. I worry that she is getting the wrong impression. I am sure you see thedanger in women like us thinking that a nobleman will rescue them from their nightmares. Impractical at best, heartbreaking at worst.”
    He thought it over for a moment before answering. He was a careful man, she could tell, the kind who weighed his words.
    “I know that he likes her very much, and I am sure that she is paid well for the fun they have together. It may be that he is grooming her to be his mistress, but as for far-flung dreams… Nicholas’s family would never allow a marriage so beneath him.”
    “I told her as much,” Josephine sighed. “But she is young and naive.”
    The bartender, a grunt of a man who never shaved called Digby, clunked a wine glass in front of Josephine. It sloshed with the force.
    “For you, BB,” he spat. “And so’s you know, the mistress is not happy.”
    “She should be more than happy with the amount my companion has spent this eve.”
    “So far,” Elias added.
    “She don’t like demands.”
    “She likes money,” the duke said, palming something to Digby. He smiled a black-toothed approval and walked away.
    Josephine took a sip of her wine. It was tart and delicious and the best she’d ever had in the Dove. She savored it before swallowing, thinking over exactly how to say what she needed to next.
    “Elias,” she began, hoping that the name he wished her to use would soften the blow she had to land. “I know I told you already, but I feel I must reiterate. I am not for sale here. No matter the wine, the compliments, the charm, the unreasonable amount of money you continue to spend… I do not allow liberties.”
    “I heard you the first two times, Blue. I did not come here for a tumble. Though I must admit I have no qualm about paying for theprivilege of admiring your