Love and Let Spy (Lord and Lady Spy) Read Online Free

Jane had been young when she’d come to live with her aunt and uncle, she had never thought of them as mother and father. There was a distance between them, a formality.
    Lady Melbourne peered at the door again, and Jane followed her gaze. “Who is it I am to meet?”
    “A Mr. Dominic Griffyn. His mother is the Marchioness of Edgeberry.”
    Edgeberry… Jane had an image of a passel of attractive young men, all with blond hair and brown eyes. They might have been her brothers for all the resemblance they shared.
    “I see, and what makes Mr. Griffyn so…” She trailed off as a footman carrying a silver tray with champagne glasses approached.
    “Champagne?” he inquired, smiling at her.
    “Thank you,” Lady Melbourne said, taking a glass.
    “Miss?” the footman asked, offering her the tray. Her aunt gave her a stern look, but Jane ignored her. She did not care for champagne, and if she was going to have to meet this Mr. Griffyn, she feared she needed fortification.
    “Would you be so kind as to fetch me a glass of ratafia?”
    “Of course.” The footman nodded. “I would be more than happy to fetch you ratafia—or…or anything at all, miss.” He gave her a long, meaningful look, and Jane supposed the anything at all might include more than refreshment.
    “Cherry, please.”
    “My pleasure.” He began to walk away.
    “Shaken, not stirred.”
    “Certainly, miss. I’ll see to it personally.”
    He moved swiftly to carry out the request, and Lady Melbourne hissed, “Can you not sip champagne?”
    “I prefer ratafia.”
    “You are too particular.”
    “He did not seem to mind.”
    “Because he could not stop staring at you. But enamored footmen aside, you are too particular.”
    Oh, dear God. Jane hoped this would not be another discussion about marriage, and then she narrowed her eyes. “Aunt, what makes this Mr. Griffyn so special ?”
    Her aunt looked away, and Jane’s heart began to pound. “You do not intend for me to marry this man, do you? I have not even met him.”
    “I had hoped to discuss this matter after you met him.”
    Jane shook her head. Had the orchestra moved closer? All of a sudden, everything was once again too bright and too loud.
    “What matter?”
    “Jane…”
    Jane grabbed her aunt’s gloved arm. “What matter?”
    Her aunt frowned. “Very well.” She lowered her voice so that none of the servants or guests passing by might hear. “Your uncle and I have decided. You and Mr. Griffyn will marry.”
    Jane released her aunt as if she had been burned. “No.”
    “The issue has been decided on both sides, Jane,” her aunt said with a stubborn lift of her chin.
    “No.” Jane looked about. She would find her uncle. He could not have possibly agreed to this. “Lord Melbourne—”
    “—agrees completely. In fact, Mr. Griffyn was his choice.”
    But why? Jane did not understand. She was an agent, not a wife. Hadn’t her uncle always been pleased with her performance? Why would he want to marry her off and relegate her to a life of utter insignificance? She still had Foncé and the Maîtriser group to defeat. How could she do that if she had a husband demanding she be home to remove his slippers every evening?
    “I won’t do it,” Jane said flatly. “I am sorry to disobey you and my uncle in anything, my lady, but I will not, under any circumstances, marry Mr. Griffyn.”
    Her aunt’s eyes widened into enormous saucers, and there was a long silence. Too long. At some point, the orchestra had finished the reel they’d been playing. Finally, the sound of a man clearing his throat echoed in the quiet supper room. Jane whirled about.
    “Shall I return at a more opportune time?” the man standing behind her drawled. Jane gaped at him as warmth unrelated to the stifling ballroom crept from her belly to her cheeks. He was tall, much taller than the average man, and at least a head taller than she. He had broad shoulders, not as broad as Baron’s, but broad enough that