Intimate Deception by Laura Landon Page A

she is. I have to know.”
    Genny shook her head.
    “She may have conceived!”
    “That is her problem, Raeborn. She knew the risks when she came here.”
    He stared at her, unable to believe she was saying something so cold, so heartless.
    “Why?” he asked, pinning her with his glare. “Why’d she do it?”
    “Do what? Give away her virginity?”
    “Yes.”
    “Because she had no other choice.”
    “She’s ruined!”
    Genevieve dropped her hands to her sides. Her shoulders sagged in defeat. “Yes. She’s ruined.”
    A long, agonizing silence stretched between them. In frustration, Raeborn slashed his hand through the air. “Why me?”
    Genevieve smiled. “Who better, Your Grace? You were my choice. I knew you would be gentle with her and I thought—” She paused. “I thought there would be the leastrisk of a pregnancy with you.” She smiled a halfhearted smile. “Perhaps that is still the case.”
    “I want to know her name. I need to find her. Talk to her.”
    Genny faced him squarely. “She doesn’t want to be found.”
    “Then she bloody well shouldn’t have slept with me! You more than anyone know that.”
    Genny held his gaze for a moment longer, then turned back to the window. “Perhaps you did not plant a babe inside her. It does not happen every time. Especially the first.”
    Raeborn fisted his hands. When he spoke, his words hissed through clenched teeth. “I want to know who she is. I need to make sure.”
    The famous madam waited a long time as if considering the meaning behind his words. “I will think about it.”
    “No! You’ll damn well tell me.”
    Genevieve slashed her hand between them. “I will think about it.
If
you’re still concerned, come back in two weeks.”
    “Two!”
    “Yes.”
    “No! I’ll give you one week. And only one.”
    She sucked in a harsh breath. “Very well. One. But I can’t promise I will tell you where you can find her. I will have to think about it.”
    Genevieve looked at him, her chin thrust outward in fierce determination. “You are not the only one who risked much last night, Raeborn. You are not the only one who could come out the loser.”
    Genevieve walked past him, the clean smell of gardenias and roses lingering behind her. “One week, Your Grace.
If
you are still concerned.”
    Raeborn stared at the closed door and rubbed his temples.
    And he’d thought yesterday had been a bad day!

Chapter 5

    T he walls trembled from the shouting coming from her father’s study. Grace sat in her room with the door closed and the drapes pulled. To the outside world she knew it looked like she was hiding, that she was a coward. Perhaps that was true. She’d already done so many things that required bravery, surely she was allowed just one moment of cowardice.
    The voices grew louder, then stopped. But the silence also held a certain terror.
    She waited.
    She was almost thankful when the angry voices continued. She knew that when the fury stopped they would send for her. Her father would demand she tell Baron Fentington there’d been some mistake. That she’d lied. That of course she was still a virgin.
    She clutched her hands around her middle and rocked back and forth, unable to ignore the erratic jumping of her heart in that little indentation at the base of her throat.
    She knew what she’d done and did not regret it. She’d thought the act itself would be the most terrifying, the most humiliating. But it had been far from terrifying even though the man Hannah had sent to her had been commanding in size. What he’d done to her had been anything but humiliating.
    His dark features and large stature had frightened her at first, but then he’d touched her. His touch had been gentle, his voice soothing, his words comforting.
    And he’d kissed her.
    Grace touched her fingers to her lips and held them there. She’d never been kissed like that before. She laughed. She’d never really been kissed before. When she was sixteen one of Squire