Free Intimate Deception by Laura Landon Page A

wanting to give her virginity to a man she didn’t know? To a man she’d never met?
    The more he thought about that night the angrier he got. He’d been used. Singled out for some reason only Genevieve knew.
    By the time he reached the front entrance, he was more inclined to kick the door off its hinges than to knock. Fortunately Jenkins didn’t give him the choice. The door opened before he reached for the brass knocker, and the familiar butler stood back to let him enter.
    “Where is she?”
    The butler bowed respectfully, showing no sign that he realized Raeborn’s temper was close to doing someone harm. “Good day, Your Grace. Madam Genevieve is waiting for you in the Gardenia—”
    Vincent didn’t wait for him to finish but stormed across the foyer and past the familiar half dozen sitting rooms. When he reached the Gardenia Room, the same room inwhich he’d met with her one week earlier, he threw open the door and entered.
    “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said when he halted in front of her. She pointed to a chair angled before the fireplace. “Would you care to sit?”
    “Where is she?
Who
is she?”
    Genevieve lifted the corners of her lips into something that resembled a smile but was not quite and walked past him to close the door.
    Raeborn felt his temper snap. “I want her name, Genevieve! I want to know who I slept with. I want to know the name of the woman whose virginity I took under the assumption that she was one of your girls.” He sucked in a deep breath that left an ache inside his chest. “Dammit! I want to know the name of the woman I could have left pregnant!”
    Genevieve paused with her hand still on the closed door, then dropped it and walked over to a small serving cart against the wall. “Such a dominating air may serve you well in the House, Raeborn, or in your own home, but you know me well enough to realize it has no effect here.” She poured them each a glass of wine and handed him one. “Please, let’s sit down and discuss this rationally.”
    Raeborn took the wine, keeping his gaze locked with hers. A part of him wanted to throttle her. Another part trusted her enough to know that whatever her reason, the need to do what she did had been compelling enough to leave her no other choice. He understood her well enough to know her actions had been born of desperation.
    He walked to the settee and waited for her to join him.
    She stopped in front of him but did not sit. “I need to preface what I’m about to tell you by explaining that there was no hidden agenda behind what we did. In fact,” she added, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, “we both hoped you’d never notice you’d just made love to a virgin.”
    “Was that the reason you added something to my drink?”
    “It was just to relax you. To keep you from being too aware of what was happening. It would have been totally effective on most men.”
    “Obviously I’m not most men,” he added without humor.
    “Obviously.”
    Genevieve sat on the edge of the settee, her outward appearance relaxed and composed. Only her clutched hands in her lap gave evidence that she was not.
    He sat down and waited for her to begin.
    “This is not easy for me, Raeborn. I gave a friend a promise and she will know I betrayed her.”
    “You should have known that would happen when you included me in your plan.”
    His voice contained none of his usual ease, but was hard and cold. His anger prevented him from trying to understand why Genevieve had used him. “First of all, I want to know her name.”
    Genevieve hesitated, then answered his question. “Her name is Grace. You don’t need to know more.”
    Raeborn started to object, then stopped when he saw the determined look on Genevieve’s face.
    “She is my best friend, Raeborn. Probably my only friend. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
    “You have already proved that. At my expense.”
    “And I would do it again.”
    He felt his temper erupt. “I