Mistress Read Online Free

just far enough to see that the frothy skirts of her white silk gown cascaded over the black sleeve of his coat.
    Marcus carried her effortlessly across the ballroom floor toward the door.
    “Step aside, if you please,” he ordered to those in his path. “My very good friend needs fresh air.”
    The crowd melted away in front of him.
    Murmurs of astonishment and speculation followed Iphiginia’s grand exit from the crowded ball.
    Marcus carried her out of the large mansion. Without pausing, he strode down the wide front steps to where a gleaming black carriage horsed with two black stallions waited.
    The door of the carriage was opened by a footman garbed in black livery. Marcus carried Iphiginia into the cab. The door was closed.
    The black carriage set off into the midnight streets of London.

T
WO
    I EXPECT YOU HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS, MY LORD. ”
    “Several, as a matter of fact.” Marcus settled into his seat. He watched Iphiginia sit briskly upright, straighten a white plume in her hair, and shake out her skirts.
    “Only to be expected and I shall be pleased to answer them,” she said. “But first I want to thank you for not giving away the game a moment ago. I am well aware that you must have found the entire performance a bit awkward.”
    “Not in the least, Mrs. Bright. I assure you, I found it quite fascinating.”
    She gave him a glorious smile. Marcus was momentarily transfixed. He suddenly realized how she had managed to captivate the majority of his acquaintances.
    “I knew you would play along with me until you discovered precisely what was afoot.” Iphiginia’s vivid hazel eyes held more than a hint of satisfaction. “I was certain of it. I knew you would be too clever, too perceptive, too coolheaded, too intelligent to do anything rash until you had investigated the matter thoroughly.”
    “I appreciate your confidence in me. I assure you, however, that I also possess enough wit not to be completelydistracted from the matter at hand by your very charming flattery.”
    She blinked in surprise. “But I was not flattering you, sir. I meant every word. I have made an intense study of your nature and I have concluded that you have a very fine brain.”
    Marcus gazed at her, briefly at a loss for words. “You admire my brain?”
    “Yes, indeed,” she said with what was, to all appearances, genuine enthusiasm. “I have read all of your papers in
The Technical and Scientific Repository
and I was most impressed. The one on the potential of the steam engine was particularly inspiring. Not that your proposal for a mechanical threshing machine was not also extremely exciting.”
    “Bloody hell.”
    She blushed. “I confess I am not well versed in technical and mechanical matters. Personally, I am a student of classical antiquities. Most of my time has been spent in that field.”
    “I see.”
    “But I am pleased to say that I was able to comprehend most of the mechanical principles you discussed in your articles. You write quite clearly, my lord.”
    “Thank you.” He had spoken too quickly when he had told her that he possessed too much wit to fall victim to flattery, Marcus thought wryly. He was momentarily enthralled. He had never had a woman compliment him on his scientific and technical writings, let alone on his intelligence.
    “You also wrote a quite instructive piece on building construction techniques which was of considerable interest to me,” Iphiginia continued. She launched into a recital of the significant points of the article.
    Marcus listened with a sense of dazed wonder. He lounged back into the corner of the black velvet seat cushion, crossed his arms, and studied Iphiginia’s face in the glow of the carriage lamp.Whatever it was he had expected to find when he finally cornered his new “mistress” in the Fenwicks’ ballroom, he reflected, Iphiginia Bright was not it.
    Charles Trescott had been wrong when he’d implied that the adventurous widow made a mockery of chastity