Love's Price (Lord Trent Series) Read Online Free Page A

Sinclair, Earl of Trent, needed to be brought low. Before the year was out, James planned to have his revenge.
    “This is your coach?” Miss Stewart inquired, peering up at him.
    “Yes.”
    “I might have guessed it would be pretentious and extravagant—like the owner.”
    James laughed. “What is the use of having money if you don’t flaunt it?”
    She scoffed and marched to it, pausing to ensure that her portmanteau was indeed strapped to the rear. The bag was small and tattered, a sorry symbol of her reduced circumstances, and he wondered what it would be like to be able to carry all your worldly belongings in a single satchel.
    When her situation was so pitiful, he couldn’t fathom why she would balk at his offer of employment. She ought to be grateful. She ought to be down on her knees and thanking him.
    As she went to climb in, a footman reached out to aid her, but James waved him away so he could help her himself. She glared at his extended hand, then hoisted herself in without assistance. He shook his head, intrigued by her spirit. She annoyed and enchanted him in equal measure.
    He climbed in behind her, sitting on the opposite seat so he could study her expressive face as they chatted.
    Shortly, the driver cracked the whip, and they were off. Miss Stewart stared out the window, ignoring him, which he would never allow.
    “I like to see you with your hair down,” he said.
    “I’m so relieved to hear it.” She oozed sarcasm.
    “While you work for me, I don’t want you to pin it up.”
    She scowled. “You hired me to be a companion for your ward. I can hardly go about looking like a strumpet.”
    “It’s my house, Miss Stewart, so you’ll follow my rules.”
    “You’re a tyrant.”
    “Yes.”
    “Aren’t I lucky to have crossed paths with you?”
    “Your hair I like,” he repeated, “but your dress, I hate.”
    “I don’t care.”
    “The color washes out your skin. It makes you appear pallid and sickly.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    “When you’re around me, you are never to wear gray. I’m afraid I have to insist.”
    “Will you?” She wrenched her eyes from the passing scenery, her furious gaze locked on his own. “For your information, I have precisely two gowns. They are both gray.”
    “I figured as much. I’ll have my clerk arrange a fitting for you. I’ll buy you some new ones.”
    “I will not have you buying me clothes as if I was some sort of...of...”
    “ Kept woman?” he unhelpfully supplied.
    “Exactly.”
    They rode in silence again, and he watched her, as a cat watches a mouse.
    Finally, she couldn’t stand it, and she inquired, “Is there some reason you’ve decided to torment me?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “At this very moment, there are thousands of females in the city who would jump at the chance to work for you. Within the hour, Mrs. Ford could show you a hundred other, more suitable candidates. I’d rather suffer a trip to the barber to have a tooth pulled than do this, yet you force me into it. Why?”
    “Because you told me no .”
    “And that’s it?”
    “Yes. I loathe it when people refuse me.”
    “So if I’d been fawning and had begged you for a job, you’d have sent me packing?”
    “Most likely.”
    “I’ll remember that in our future dealings.”
    “As long as you let me have my way, you’ll find I’m extremely amenable.”
    She huffed out an aggravated breath. “I don’t like you.”
    “I’ll grow on you.”
    “I doubt it.”
    He chuckled. “How old are you?”
    “Twenty. Why?”
    “I’m curious where you come by all this sass and vigor. It exhausts me.”
    “I come by it from having dealt with others who are just like you. I lost my patience for nonsense years ago.”
    “You talk as if you’re a decrepit, elderly matron.”
    “Occasionally, I feel as if I am.”
    He wondered about her again, about her past and her family. Obviously, someone had paid to have her educated. She was refined in her speech and