Free The Viscount's Addiction by Scottie Barrett Page A

common enough gesture, yet completely provocative when she did it.
    He tapped the ledgers. “Liar. The proof is all here.” He was angry as hell at her and yet his hard cock throbbed with need. “And I intend on recouping my losses.” He

    motioned her closer with the crook of his finger. With cautious steps, she came around to his side of the desk. When she was close enough, he lifted her skirt and thin petticoat and slid his hands up the backs of her smooth thighs. She closed her eyes for a moment and swayed slightly as if she were dizzy. Then she looked down at him with huge, almond-shaped eyes that nearly melted him into a puddle in his father’s chair.
    “To start to repay me, little witch, why don’t you do what you do best?” He moved his hands higher, cupping her naked bottom.
    “And just what is it that I do best, my lord?” she asked breathlessly.
    “You make me hard.” He grabbed her hand and placed it on his bulging crotch.
    She shoved herself away from him. “I have other talents, as well.” She walked over to a cabinet beneath the window and unlocked it. Ryder adjusted the tight fit of his pantaloons as she bent over and reached into the cabinet. She slammed a pile of ledgers on the desk in front of him.
    “What are these?”
    “Those, Lord Blackwood, are the real books. I think you will find that you are still a very wealthy man.”
    Confused, he opened the first book and began adding up the columns. After a few minutes he looked up at her. “I don’t understand. How is this possible?” he asked.
    “Well, before I became just an inspiration for your cock, I made certain that your relatives did not deplete the entire estate. Armed with the marriage certificate, your uncle moved us into the manor and immediately dismissed the land steward. Henry soon grew bored of trying to make sense of the numbers. So given the opportunity I took over and created a set of fake books showing little or no money in the accounts. Then I kept the actual accounts hidden. It was very easy to fool them both.”
    Ryder relaxed back in the chair. She glared at him with her beautiful green eyes like a furious feline. He regretted his rude comments. But it was his way of defending himself against her overwhelming appeal. He skimmed over the books once more then returned his gaze to her face. “My God, woman, you are a genius.”
    She smiled now, and he caught a glimpse of a dimple creasing her smooth, creamy cheek.
    “I daresay, saving the estate would certainly have paid off when you became my widow. You would have been entitled to a third interest in my lands.”
    Her adorable smile faded with his last mean-spirited comment.

    “How dare you ascribe such treacherous motives to me! I was an innocent fifteen year old at the time the marriage was forced on me.”
    “In prison I met boys of that tender age who would slit a person’s throat for pocket change.”
    Her beautiful eyes ignited with anger again. “When I vacate Tesslyn Hall, whether it is to prison or the streets, I want nothing of yours.”
    Though he felt perfectly entitled to complain about their union, he did not care a bit for her complete rejection of it. He reached for the next ledger, and his hand trembled from the lack of opium. It did not escape her notice. Now he wanted her to leave. “You might as well return to your garden. You’re of no use to me with your clothes on.”
    “Bloody grand. I falsify the books so that the entire estate could not be gambled away, and now the whole thing will be wiped out by your despicable vice.”
    With a flourish, he took a draft of the laudanum. “I will spend my money on whatever I like. I may even replace you with a whore more to my pleasing.” As soon as he said the words, he wished he could retrieve them. She looked startled, as if he’d slapped her.
    “I am not a whore,” she said, her chin quivering, “but you, sir, are no better than the other two craven, selfish men that live in this house.