Regency Rogues: Unlacing The Forbidden. Louise Allen

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СКАЧАТЬ about Sir Anthony Meldreth?’

      ‘As I said, we found we did not suit.’

      Perhaps she had sounded unconvincing, for Rhys stopped and looked at her sharply. ‘What happened?’

      Bother and blast, I am blushing. ‘Nothing.’

      ‘Thea…’ Rhys’s tone told her he would not let this go now. ‘Sit down here and tell me.’ He gestured to a bench by the side of the path.

      ‘Oh, well, if you must pry into every last detail!’ Thea sat down with an inelegant thump and stared at her toes. ‘He led me to believe he loved me, that he was interested in the things that I enjoyed, that he respected my opinions, that he wanted a wife who would be an equal.’

      ‘And did you love him?’

      ‘In a way, yes. I thought he would be a good companion and I trusted him when he said he wanted only me, for myself.’

      ‘And he did not?’ Rhys’s voice was softer now.

      ‘I overheard him discussing settlements with my father. They had agreed on his approach together so that Papa could get me off his hands and Anthony would gain my inheritance and a piece of land he had been wanting for a long time that Papa had previously refused to sell.’

      ‘That must have been…difficult to cope with. What did you do? Confront them?’

      ‘No. I told Anthony that I had changed my mind and I did not think we would suit. He told me I was frigid and not worth what my father offered him.’

      ‘Frigid? Did he force you?’

      ‘No.’ It was apparently possible to blush this hard without bursting into flames. ‘I allowed him certain…liberties. When I thought we were in love, you understand.’ Thea fixed her gaze on her clasped hands.

      ‘Certain liberties? What the blazes does that mean?’ Rhys sounded furious. Thea flickered a glance in his direction and saw his face. He was furious.

      ‘Rhys, for goodness’ sake, I cannot discuss this with you!’

      ‘Why not? You are under my protection. The man’s a bastard to trifle with you. I will deal with him when I get back to England.’

      ‘Call him out? For pity’s sake, Rhys—on what pretext?’

      ‘I’ll find one. I am certain I can take offence at his hat, or his face or the way he laughs.’

      ‘Oh, Rhys.’ There was no point in arguing and, besides, Sir Anthony was a long way away. Rhys’s temper would have cooled by the time he got home. He fired up when he saw her predicament as a matter of honour, but he did not truly understand her horror of returning to that life where she was either a pawn or a tool, where her true self would simply dwindle and vanish. A man simply would not comprehend how a woman’s powerlessness could make her feel.

      ‘Love’s an illusion,’ Rhys said abruptly. ‘You realise that now, I presume?’

      ‘No, I don’t. I was mistaken in him and my own sentiments, that is all. You know that love does exist,’ Thea said softly. She reached out and curled her fingers around his forearm for a moment. ‘If it did not, you would not be so set on making a loveless, suitable marriage this time. Love hurts—that is how we know it is real.’

      Rhys moved abruptly, but she kept looking straight ahead so all he would be able to see was the top of her plain straw bonnet. ‘Put your veil down,’ he ordered.

      ‘Oh. Yes, of course.’

      She arranged it carefully, then let him take her hand and help her to her feet. Now that she had satisfied his curiosity, perhaps Rhys would drop the subject and allow her to nurse her battered emotions in peace. Her fears she dared not contemplate.

      ‘Tomorrow I shop,’ Thea said firmly three days later as dinner was laid out on the table in their private salon in the Plume d’Or inn near the Louvre. ‘Rouen was all very well, but one day was not enough.’ All she and Polly had achieved was fresh linen, a pair of stockings apiece and some handkerchiefs.

      ‘You are not tired by the journey?’ Rhys took up the carving knife and began to dismember a chicken with forensic skill. He sounded hopeful. Why were men so anxious when women went shopping? It was not his money after all.

      ‘Tired? Not at all. I love travelling. There was so much to look at and the roads are very good.’

      ‘All the better for marching troops along,’ Rhys said with a wry smile.

      ‘It seems so strange to be at peace. All my life we have been at war with France. Thank goodness it is over now.’ Thea accepted the meat he laid on her plate and began to investigate the steaming dishes that filled the table. ‘How many people do they think they are feeding! This looks delicious. I am going to put on pounds if I am not careful.’ She chewed a delicious morsel and took a sip of wine. ‘Rhys…’

      ‘Yes? That sounds like the start of a question I should be wary of.’

      ‘Nothing of the kind. I just wondered if you could ask the innkeeper to recommend a guide for me tomorrow. My French is not equal to finding my way about and I have no idea where to discover the best shops.’

      ‘I should escort you.’

      ‘Thank you, but I am certain you have your time already planned out.’ She studied his expression. ‘I should give you credit for managing to look perfectly calm when I know you are filled with dread at the very idea of being dragged around Paris’s shops in the wake of a female.’

      ‘Very true. I am quaking, so the offer is one of great heroism on my part.’ She opened her mouth to protest, but Rhys grinned. ‘No, I will not inflict myself on you—take Hodge. His French is excellent and he was in Paris during the last peace.’

      There, Thea told herself as she ate her dinner with good appetite. I am safely settled in a good hotel without any scandal or fuss, Rhys and I are conversing quite on our old terms. There is nothing at all to worry about. But she never had been very anxious about scandal or fuss, so it must be Rhys that she was relieved about….

      ‘What are you frowning about now?’ he asked, the old teasing note back in his voice. ‘Afraid there are frogs in the casserole again?’

      ‘Provided they are not live ones hidden under the lid, like your birthday surprise for me when I was ten, I am not at all worried, you wretch,’ she retorted. You see? Nothing to worry about at all.

      ‘Please tell me there is more than a single item left in the shops of Paris.’

      Thea followed Hodge, Polly and two hotel footmen into the private sitting room and peered around the piles of parcels at Rhys. He was dressed to go out, immaculate in black evening breeches and a midnight-blue swallowtail coat.

      ‘Of course there is. These are just some essentials to tide me over until I can pick up the gowns that СКАЧАТЬ