The Lady Plays Her Ace (The Langley Sisters) Read Online Free Page B

than your bedroom, my lady, so as you can imagine chaotic is a polite term."
    "I would kill my brothers were I forced to live in such close confines with them, Mr. Dillinger."
    She made him smile again. The woman always said exactly what she was thinking, even when perhaps she should not. Not many woman of her standing were that way. Most just said what they thought a person needed to hear.
    "We had our moments," was all Ace said. "However, I was not there that long, so I had only to cope for a few years."
    Twelve, to be precise, Ace thought, remembering the day he’d walked away from his home without his family’s knowledge and not returned for many years.
    "Why?"
    Because my family could not afford to feed me.
    "It matters not why, my lady." Ace brushed her question aside. "What matters at this moment is that you are indeed unhurt and are not telling me falsehoods."
    She gave him another steady look but did not pursue the matter of his family.
    "I will have a small bruise on my shoulder by morning, but it will be nothing in comparison to the sizeable one on my ego. Therefore, I assure you I am quite unharmed."
    "I am relieved."
    Ace watched the line form down her forehead as she frowned. "I am not usually such a faint-hearted woman, Mr. Dillinger."
    "Any person, man or woman, would have been unsettled at the circumstances you have just endured, Lady Althea," Ace said soothingly."
    "That's as may be, but I am not speaking of the brawl and subsequent tumble I took. That was unexpected and at the time distressing. However, I wish to address the matter of the official boxing match that I came to see."
    He loved the way she spoke, in a series of sentences carefully structured and thought out, then they were all delivered in an impatient tone which told the listener that they needed to pay attention as what she was saying was of vital importance.
    "The problem arose as I saw that man’s head snap backwards, and the immediate flow of blood." She inhaled deeply at the memory before continuing. "I felt unsteady suddenly, which is a very fluffy headed thing to do, but I fear that I do not like blood overly, you see, and seeing so much of it was disturbing."
    "You don’t like blood and yet you came to a boxing match." Ace shook his head. "What did you suppose would happen when the fist of one man contacted with the other’s nose?"
    "You are making me sound quite brainless, Sir, and I’m afraid you have struck on one of my failings."
    "Just the one?" Ace couldn’t resist teasing.
    "I fear this is one of my biggest." Her gray eyes were now rueful. "You see, Mr. Dillinger, I cannot be dissuaded when I set myself upon a course. It is most irritating for all concerned, not least of all myself."
    "And yet you spent the night thinking things through, pros and cons, and not once did you factor in the prospect of blood?"
    "Oh, dear. Put like that it does make me sound fluffy headed," she said, the frown line deepening. "However, my brother's news did disturb me enough that perhaps I was not thinking with my usual rationality."
    Ace resisted the urge again to ask what this news was.
    "Not so fluffy headed, my lady," he said, leaning towards her. Her skin was soft, with the faintest hint of color in her cheeks. He wanted to touch it, memorize the texture. "I have seen grown men faint at the sight of blood, so I would not be too hard on yourself."
    "Is that true, Mr. Dillinger, or are you trying to make me feel better?"
    Not many people questioned his word, but she’d always done so, right from their first meeting. They were so close now, close enough that he could feel her breath on his face. Ace knew he should pull away, knew it with every fiber of his being, and yet he could not.
    "You don’t know me very well, Lady Althea, but if you did, you would know I rarely speak anything but the truth."
    "Oh, but I don’t know you well, Mr. Dillinger," she said as he moved closer still. Something about her drew him to her, like a moth to