Sins of a Virgin Read Online Free Page B

front of her gown as if to rid it of any hint of their interaction. “Every man has a weakness. Pride, vanity . . .” She allowed a deliberate pause, a mocking grin curving her lips. “The desire to protect. Any weakness can be turned to my advantage.”
    Gabriel stalked to the far corner of the room until the urge to wrap his hands around her neck faded. She had played him. She hadn’t even needed to snap her fingers to bring him to heel. “You intend to manipulate every man in England?”
    “As amusing as that would be, it isn’t necessary. Once the first few agree, I’ll point out that anyone who refuses must have something embarrassing to hide.”
    He exhaled through clenched teeth. Forget she made a fool of you . He’d wanted her to have a plan, and apparently, hers was far better than he’d given her credit for. But fury, and a disturbing amount of frustrated desire, still drove him. “So you plan to dupe them into paying you a fortune?”
    She frowned. “No. They’ll get what they pay for. My virginity. I’m merely trying to ensure they don’t cheat me.”
    “By preying on their weaknesses.”
    She crossed her arms. “It’s not a crime to discover fantasies. You do the same thing.”
    He glared at her. “Nonsense.”
    “When you capture a suspect, you ferret out their weaknesses first, do you not? You watch for the lies and the fears, then you exploit them to gain a confession. The only difference is that my process ends with a pleasant interlude in bed and yours ends on the gallows.”
    His fists tightened until his hands ached. But Miss Valdan was right, curse her. Besides, he couldn’t risk provoking her further. The more he thought about it, the more perfect this opportunity was. By working for Madeline, he could investigate the men of the ton without their knowledge. Hell, perhaps they’d even help. “What else do you need me to do?”
    She hesitated, and for a moment, he was positive his bitterness had lost him the assignment.
    The door opened and the butler entered. This time a blue ribbon and pheasant feathers trimmed the man’s hat. He carried a tray containing tea and biscuits, which he set on a small table. Madeline didn’t spare the butler’s strange attire a second glance. Instead, she lowered herself onto the settee and motioned to the chair across from her.
    Gabriel sat. He’d be harder to throw out if he was drinking tea.
    She poured with a grace more befitting a lady of the manor than a woman of the streets. Even his mother would have approved. She offered him a plate of biscuits. “I will also require the sexual histories of the top bidders. That information, I assume, they will be less anxious to part with.”
    At least she’d decided not to throw him out.
    “My desire to fulfill fantasies only goes so far. I won’t share a bed with a madman, no matter how much he pays. Nor do I want to end up with the pox as a memento of the evening. While financial information can be supplied by a banker or solicitor, this portion of the assignment will require an investigator familiar with the darker environs and back alleys of London.”
    That he was. Since Susan’s death, he’d spent little time anywhere else. The more violent and depraved the criminal he hunted, the better. He held out hope with each arrest that someone would have a clue that would lead him to his sister’s killer. As the months and years had passed, he’d recognized the growing improbability of that hope. Yet he couldn’t stop.
    Besides, if Miss Valdan wanted a proper investigation, not only would he look into the whorehouses and bordellos, he’d have to interview her bidders’ staffs as well—butlers, valets, maids. All people who would know of their masters’ proclivities.
    And their whereabouts the night of the Simm murder.
    Gabriel nodded in acceptance.
    “Also, for the next fortnight, I need you by my side when I’m seen in public.”
    “What?” That sneaky cur Potts had left out that detail.