Free Intimate Deception by Laura Landon Page B

just want to know why this Grace needed to play the whore for one night!”
    Genevieve sucked in a deep breath and turned to face him squarely. He knew from the look in her eyes that if their roles were different and Genevieve were a man, they’d be facing each other over pistols in the morning. When she spoke, the tone of her voice proved it.
    “Never…” She stopped to glare at him with more intensity. “
Never
put Grace in the same class as me. She doesn’t even deserve to have her name whispered in the same breath with mine.”
    He stared at her serious expression, then nodded his head in acquiescence. “My apologies.”
    “Grace came to me because she was desperate. Her father was forcing her younger sister to marry a despicable man old enough to be her father. To keep her sister safe, Grace agreed to take her place.”
    “Marriage to the man would have been so terrible?”
    Genevieve rose from the settee and stood in front of the window. “Yes. Every hour with him would have been hell on earth.”
    Raeborn watched Genevieve’s shoulders shake with each shuddering breath. She turned and scorched him with a look of repulsion.
    “His first wife died birthing his only child, a daughter. His second wife killed herself before she’d been married a full six months. The man is evil in the cruelest sense of the word. His sexual depravity and vile penchants make the devil appear saintly.” She paced in agitation. “He is a man of some means and gives all who know him the impressionof being ever so pious and righteous, while behind closed doors his actions are foul and perverted.” She paused and turned her haunted face to the window. “He’s an abomination to everything good. Lewd and despicable. Not fit to be called human.”
    He rose from the settee and stood behind her. Her whole body shook uncontrollably, and he wanted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. But he was afraid she’d recoil from him if he reached out to her.
    “She could have refused. She was of age.”
    “But her sister wasn’t. Grace had to agree to his offer until her sister was safely married.”
    “Is she married now?”
    “She was married two weeks ago.” She paused, and Vincent saw her shoulders relax. They lifted when she took a deep breath. “On the day of the wedding, the man informed her that their betrothal would proceed without delay. There was only the simple matter of the papers to sign assuring him that she was a virgin before he would take the steps necessary to make her his bride.”
    “Assurance?”
    “Yes. Her signed and witnessed assurance that the woman he was taking as his wife was a virgin. One couldn’t expect a man so closely created in God’s image to accept a tainted woman as his bride. A written oath vowing of her virginity was essential before she could be sacrificed on the altar of perversion.”
    Vincent felt a certain revulsion. “So to keep from marrying him she needed to lose her virginity.”
    “Grace knew that simply refusing him would do no good. It would only incur her father’s wrath and makethe man more determined to have her. He’s relentless when he wants something and won’t let anything get in his way. He is convinced he’s been sent by God to punish women for their sins. To abuse and humiliate and beat them into submission until they repent for their immoral ways.”
    She turned to face him. “Grace knew this was her only choice. The man would never force marriage on her if she refused to swear that she was a virgin. Coming here, giving herself to you had been her choice. She made it freely.”
    “Why me?”
    Genevieve smiled. “You were
my
choice. Who else could I have entrusted my most cherished friend to?”
    Raeborn shrugged off the embarrassing compliment and walked across the room, needing to put some distance between them. A fire crackled in the grate, the flames licking upward in slow, mesmerizing movements. He spread his arms and braced his hands on the