Free Say You Love Me by Johanna Lindsey Page A

decent bed, not bouncing around in discomfort in a carriage.”
    “Were we about to make love?”
    “Yes, we most definitely were.”
    “I see.”
    But she didn’t see at all. They were still fully clothed. May had been rather derisive when she had explained that some men still made love to their wives in the dark and without removing any of their nightclothes, but with a mistress, they would most definitely get naked.
    Kelsey supposed that she would just have to take Derek’s word for it that, in their case, they had been about to make love. But she hoped all the advice and warnings she had received would make sense to her once she did make love. Right then it was all just very confusing.

10
    They stopped at a rustic inn in Newbury for lunch . Derek had frequented the establishment many times since the property in Bridgewater had been turned over to him, enough to know the place was cleaner than most and the food excellent. More important, it offered a private dining room for those who didn’t want to rub elbows with the locals; the room was expensive enough that only the gentry could afford its use. And not knowing Kelsey’s habits yet, he preferred not to find out that she ate like a pig with the entire establishment watching.
    Her table manners proved impeccable, however. He’d never have to worry about being embarrassed on that count, if and when they dined with others of his acquaintance. And he saw no reason to keep her exclusively hidden once he moved her to London. There were, after all, many places one could take one’s mistress without worry of running into gently reared females who would be affronted by the presence of someone of Kelsey’s class and profession.

    He had studied her for quite a while in the carriage while she pretended not to notice. She could have been a duke’s daughter, sitting there so rigidly proper, with such decorum, her clothes not the most expensive, yet still fit for any lady to travel in.
    Those clothes had surprised him when she’d come downstairs. He hadn’t expected her to look so un like a mistress, even if it was early in the morning. He was going to have to buy her some that were more appropriate, if that was the best she could come up with from that valise of hers.
    It was bloody well disconcerting, listening to her fine speech, too. Her diction was better than that of half the ton , who, like himself, tended to butcher a sentence down to the briefest thought.
    But Kelsey by daylight was a revelation, much prettier than the night before, when she had been so stiff and wide-eyed in her nervousness. Her complexion was flawless cream, making her blushes all the more telling. Her brows were thin and arched just enough to highlight her oval-shaped eyes, which were made even more prominent by some very thick black lashes outlining them. High cheekbones complimented a slim nose and delicate chin.
    Her black hair held a natural curl, so there was very little that needed to be done to it to make it quite stylish. She wore it now in a braid that wrapped about her head, the fly-away bangs and soft curls at her ears very becoming. And those eyes, softest gray they were, and so telling when they filled with innocence, or rancor, or simple confusion. He had to wonder how much of what he saw in them was actually true and how much was artful contrivance.
    He was finding her fascinating, no doubt about that. He had had the devil’s own time falling asleep the night before because of her, for thinking about her being under the same roof, while she had slept like a baby. And that had annoyed him too. She hadn’t laid awake, expecting a visit from him, because she hadn’t realized she was in the house of the man who’d bought her. She’d thought that man was Jeremy.
    Derek still didn’t know what to make of his reaction to that. He barely knew the girl. Just because he owned her was no reason to be experiencing jealousy of any sort—at least not this soon. And over