A Promise of More Read Online Free Page A

rather jump back into the Thames.”
    Coldhurst frowned. “Forgive me, my lady, but I fail to understand your reason for seeking me out.” He paused, and his hands rolled into fists. “Unless it’s to extort more money from me.”
    The blanket almost slipped from her grasp. “Extort? You sent the money. Blood money. We did not extort nor ask for any recompense. Judas’s thirty pieces of silver? Guilty conscience, my lord?”
    He’d written to her from Jamaica, where he was “rusticating” after the duel. He’d organized funds for her family, which had been gratefully received. But the money had not been enough.
    Anger flared in the depths of his eyes. “It was not I who issued the challenge.”
    “But you accepted. A man who is known for his expertise with weapons, agreeing to a duel with a young, stupid man, barely more than a boy.”
    The shrill pain of the memory had her lean on the cabin wall for support. Theday Doogie died had dawned like many before, except this time, he’d arrived home from his previous night’s carousing in a casket.
    In a low voice Sebastian said, “I went through with the duel to teach the young fool to be careful whom he challenged in future. I swear I aimed wide of him, but his inexperience and the cloaking mist must have caused him to deviate off his mark.” He added softly, “I did not intend to kill him, and I shall regret his death for as long as I live.”
    Two tears rolled down her cheeks. She quickly dashed them away with one hand, while the other hand continued to clutch the blanket as though it were a life buoy.
    “Well, you taught him a lesson all right.”
    He sighed. “Why are you here?”
    Beatrice swallowed several times, trying to gather her courage for this despicable task. She forced herself to stand tall but in her naked state felt absolutely ridiculous and exposed.
    He moved toward her. She took a wary step back. She was tall enough that he didn’t dwarf her with his massive size, but she still had to steel herself to meet his intimidating presence without flinching.
    “You aren’t afraid of me?” he asked, his voice as mesmerizing as a snake charmer who turned out to be the snake.
    She was afraid of him, but not because he’d killed her brother. She was deathly afraid for an altogether different reason. She fought for control of her scrambled senses. She was afraid of him because for the first time in her life she was suddenly acutely aware of a man. Of the raw virility that seemed to surround him. “You may be a killer, but I’ve heard you are a man of honor.” At least she hoped he was, or her visit would be in vain. “I doubt you’d hurt a woman.”
    “Not unless she asked me to,” Coldhurst said. “And then only in a mutually pleasurable way.”
    She had no idea to what he was referring, but it was doubtless sexual in nature. Everything about him screamed sex. Doogie had issued his challenge because he’d found Coldhurst in his mistress’s bed.
    Men were so stupid to fight and die over who was having sex with whom. From what she knew about men, they slept with anyone who let them. From what she knew of sex—admittedly not much—it seemed a messy, unnecessary business exceptto beget children.
    “No doubt you are deliberately trying to make me uncomfortable with your innuendo,” she retorted coolly, adopting her most regal air. “I’m twenty-five years old. I am not a debutante who will faint at the mention of sexual congress.”
    His smile flickered as if he were trying to hide his amusement. “ ‘Sexual congress’? How prim. How proper.” He reached across the small space to brush her cheek lightly with the back of his knuckles. “Only a virgin could say ‘sexual congress’ with such disdain. Either that, or a woman whose lovers were completely inept.”
    Sebastian felt the animal stirrings of his body. Her lips parted and he heard her soft intake of breath. He’d obviously been without a woman for too long if he was lusting