The Problem with Seduction Read Online Free Page A

taken another lover—but no. It was because he wanted Oliver. Wouldn’t accept that the boy was not his own. “I believed that cocky little whelp at first,” Nicholas said, “but I’ve had time to think about it. You wouldn’t have strayed. You were in love with me.”
    Oh, she had been. She’d loved him so much she’d thought she would die from the pain of his betrayal. She waved her hand through the air, turning slowly toward him. “You had no loyalty from me.”
    His eyes went cold. “We had an agreement. That included your chastity.”
    “You never had sole claim on my time.”
    She hated the way she sounded. Bitter.
    He advanced two steps. “I paid for you. You had a legal obligation to me.”
    “Even if you were in her arms?” Elizabeth couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice now. “You thought I would pine alone while you rolled around in some other woman’s bed?”
     “It was my right.” He scowled. “Why else would I pay your rates?”
    Because you loved me. A foolish thought to have. What made it all the worse, however, was that he was right. She had lain in her bed, night after night, wishing he would come to her. Hating that he’d taken another courtesan in his arms. Hating herself, for loving a man who could not have given his whole heart to her had he even wanted to.
    “I should never have believed you were with him.” Nicholas muttered. He said him as though just thinking about Lord Constantine put a bad taste in his mouth. For one brief, stupid second, Elizabeth hoped he was jealous. “You never gave any indication…” He shook his head. He stared at the floor as if the world were shifting beneath his feet. Then his chin lifted until he was looking her full in the face again. What she saw there sent a chill through her entire body.
    “That silly fop made me look like a fool in front of everyone. But…the thing of it is, Elizabeth, I don’t think he has the brains to have come up with such a devious plot. Lord Constantine is a puppy. A little boy hanging on his brothers’ coattails. You would never have turned to his bed, even if you had wanted to get me back.” Nicholas advanced one more step. It was enough to bring the masculine, heart-twistingly familiar smell of him near. “You panted after me for too long, Elizabeth. I cannot believe you would have strayed, even for one night.”
    She held her ground, but allowed her face to reveal all the years she’d spent pining after a man who’d never wanted her. “He was kind to me. I believed he might…”
    Nicholas’s condescension dripped from his voice. “Never say you thought he loved you.”
    But she’d struck something. He turned away, his broad shoulders sagging a fraction. Enough to make her think she’d drawn his attention to the one weakness that might have sent her into the arms of another.
    “Of course I didn’t,” she scoffed, though the thought of a man telling her he loved her caused her chest to ache. “A man doesn’t fall in love simply because his prick finds solace. I believed he could come to love me, though. It was enough to bring us together…for the night.”
    Nicholas froze. Then he drew himself up and faced her. “Was it worth it? Was cuckolding me worth your silly sentiments?”
    Her laugh was brittle. “Only a wife can cuckold a man.”
    Nicholas’s dark brow lowered as he scowled viciously. “Your tongue is as sharp as ever.”
    At least he was no longer talking about Oliver or her heart. She thinned her lips in a satisfied smile. “Thank you.”
    “My dearest Beth, what a smart mouth you have.” He bared his teeth in satisfaction when she flinched at his pet name for her. “I think you’re a lying little whore. A brilliant one. It would seem that my hands are tied for the moment. I have no proof that Oliver is my son, but you have thirty men who saw me stupidly accept the idea that Lord Constantine warmed your bed. Even I don’t know what to believe.” He loomed toward her.