Lady in Blue Read Online Free Page A

expect to provide an audition. By sight only, of course. She won’t let you touch her until you’ve paid up in cash. As a personal favor, Bryn, I would ask you not to meet her out of trifling curiosity. If you’ve no real interest, let it go.”
    His spine tickled a warning. “Just what is she to you?” he asked warily.
    Flo tossed her head. “Goods. Wares. I’d market her carefully, with an eye to profit, were I not leaving the trade. As it is, I offer her to you without any charge of my own if you promise to treat her fairly. In honor of our years together.”
    “Our friendship,” he corrected with a lopsided smile.
    “Exactly.” Florette adjusted her spectacles and gazed fondly at the tall earl. He was combing his long fingers through the thick straight hair that must have defied his valet’s best efforts to control it. One swatch gravitated inevitably over his right eyebrow, giving him a boyish look at odds with the arrogance so natural to him it was more amusing than offensive. In a peculiar way, she thought of him as her son, although he’d be horrified if he knew that. Never had she met a man so determined to avoid emotional entanglements of any sort.
    In most ways, he’d grown up too soon. But in others, he’d yet to mature. She had decided it was past time to shake him up, and by good fortune she had found the means to do so. “You have made me a wealthy woman, Bryn,” she said in a complacent voice. “Once you were able to pay, you more than compensated for my generosity in the early days. I could not possibly retire so young if not for your lavish commissions and your advice about how to invest them.”
    “Had I anticipated the consequences, pernicious woman, you’d not have done so well by me.” His eyes were shuttered. “I’m going to miss you.”
    “I’m retiring,” she assured him tartly, “not sticking my spoon in the wall. When things have settled, I’ll be in touch. Shall I send Clare to you?”
    “Tomorrow morning,” he replied gruffly. “Eleven o’clock. Send her to Clouds.” He frowned. “No, better not. The place is a shambles after Marita’s theatrical exit. Make it St. James’s, and have her come in through the servants’ entrance. I won’t bite her, Flo, but for that amount of money I’ll damn well find out what’s under all those veils before making up my mind.”
    “Fair enough. I’ll tell her so, and she will come to you if it suits her. Clare is my goodbye gift, or my last mistake, but under no circumstances do I wish to be responsible for anything that happens once you meet.”
    “That sounds rather ominous.”
    Rising, Flo held out her arms, and he walked straight into them for a last hug. “Ah, you are a beguiling thing, Caradoc,” she whispered against his neck. “Alas that I took my first lover long before I met you.” Setting him back, she brushed the hair from his forehead. “Still, je ne regrette rien. The profession has been kind to me, and I shall retire in comfort with memories of the most delightful sort to keep me young. Along with a dalliance or two, tu comprends, for one is never too old to dance.” Her eyes, which she’d once told him were greener than emeralds, shimmered with tears. “Take care, my friend. And look to the crossroads.”
    As he drove away, Florette stood at the door and waved, feeling a tightness in the vicinity of her heart. On instinct alone, she had begun something that might well lead to disaster. Bryn was curious about the mysterious veiled lady, as she’d hoped. And resistant because he could not bear to relinquish control of any situation to someone else. But she knew him, and understood him better than he could imagine. The man needed exactly what she’d given him. All he had to do was realize it.
    With a sigh, Flo closed the door. She had gathered the players and dealt out the hand, but the outcome was unpredictable. Clare was the wild card in this game. The Lady in Blue, as Bryn called her, was not what