The Secrets of a Courtesan Read Online Free Page B

confirmed her guilt. She could
    have kicked herself.
    “If stolen goods are being passed through this shop it is entirely without my knowledge,” she
    temporized.
    Rowarth held her gaze, his own implacable. Eve shivered to see the coldness there where once
    there had been nothing but heat and sweetness for her.
    “That does not make you innocent,” Rowarth said.
    “It makes me a victim of Sampson’s criminality,” Eve said sharply, “not an accomplice.”
    Rowarth raised his brows in blatant disbelief but he did not challenge her immediately. Instead
    he picked up a monograph of some very naughty erotic drawings that Eve had failed to notice
    was lying on the desk. As he flicked through the pictures Eve started to feel unconscionably
    heated, her mind conjuring up visions of the past, of her body locked with Rowarth’s in the most
    intimate and sensual of embraces, his mouth hot against the bare skin of her inner thigh, her cries
    of need as his tongue flicked her tender core, the bliss as he took her, pushing her to the extremes
    of pleasure…
    She tried to steady her breathing. Her pulse was fluttering like a trapped butterfly. Her skin
    tingled and she felt light-headed. She fanned herself surreptitiously, watching as Rowarth
    assessed the saucy sketches, brows slightly raised, a faint smile still on his lips. Her fingers were
    itching to snatch the book away from him and put an end to her embarrassment. And then he
    looked up and the turbulent desire in his eyes flared strong and elemental, and Eve felt the need
    knot in her stomach and almost gasped aloud.
    “What an interesting variety of items you must take in here,” Rowarth said, a rough undertone to
    his voice. He shifted, clearing his throat. “These, I would guess, are the property of Mr. Tom
    Fortune. I hear he has an extensive library of such books.”
    “I never divulge details about my clients,” Eve snapped. She pulled herself back from the brink
    of sensual awareness. If Rowarth could exercise such control against the ghosts of the past then
    so could she.
    Rowarth’s gaze had moved on to a rather fine ruby bracelet that was nestling in a cut glass bowl.
    “That is pretty.”
    “It’s made of paste,” Eve said quickly and untruthfully. The bracelet was not in fact a fake, but
    Eve was desperately hoping that the Dowager Duchess of Cole, who had brought it in, would
    find the funds to buy it back. She had seen the look of despair on Laura Cole’s face when she
    had pawned her jewelry and had guessed that it was of great sentimental value. She had given the
    Dowager Duchess a very generous sum for she knew that Laura Cole and her little daughter were
    poverty-stricken.
    Rowarth permitted the rubies to slide through his fingers before looking up at her. “You seem
    reluctant to sell.”
    “I was not aware that you were buying,” Eve said. “I thought you were here to threaten me
    instead.”
    “Touché.” He smiled at her suddenly. It was devastating. “You fight damned hard, Eve.”
    “I always did.”
    “I know.”
    For one short, achingly fragile moment their eyes met and held and Eve’s heart tumbled to see
    the tenderness in his, and then it was gone, swept aside by a coldness so bitter that she felt
    shrivelled and frozen. Rowarth broke the contact, stretching in his chair, muscles rippling
    beneath the blue superfine of his coat. “Hawkesbury’s intelligence is that you are extremely
    liberal in the sums you offer to clients, sometimes giving far more than an item is worth,” he
    said. His voice had chilled, too. “Apparently if you know a client is attached to a particular item
    you will keep it safe for them to reclaim when they can afford it, rather than sell it. If you know
    some of your clients are pawning their last stick of furniture in order to buy gin to drink
    themselves into a stupor, you will try to persuade them off the bottle.”
    “And your point?” Eve asked tartly. “I thought that you were the