Free The Courtesan's Secret by Claudia Dain

chase you about town. Do with... them what you will, when you will."
    It was perfectly clear to both of them that he had been about to say "do with her what you will." He was not as foxed as all that.
    "You sound as though you were selling her to me."
    "Ridiculous," Dutton said. "I am merely selling her interest in me, for a time, to you."
    "The pearls being the price of her interest."
    "It should do for a start. I'm certain you have the means and the ability to build on that foundation."
    Actually, he possessed no such certainty. Louisa Kirkland had been following him about for the better part of two years, calf-eyed, and Henry Blakesley had been trailing after Louisa for almost as long, letting her lead them both where she willed. Ridiculous. One took matters in hand with a woman, and whatever other juicy bit he could put his hands to as well, as the situation and the woman dictated. How Blakesley had come to his majority without knowing this most basic of truths about women was a complete mystery.
    Though Blakesley's lack of the most basic knowledge of women might have something to do with his mother, Molly, Duchess of Hyde, being originally from Boston, Massachusetts. The colonials of the previous generation were universally known for being more than passing peculiar. It was not entirely impossible that Lord Henry Blakesley had picked up his odd habits from her.
    Blakesley considered him in icy silence, his eyes narrowed. Dutton took the man's need to ponder his offer as an occasion to get a few more swallows down his throat. It was damn fine whisky.
    "And what would you get out of this bargain?" Blakesley asked softly.
    "A bit of peace, for one," Dutton drawled. "And a bit of amusement."
    "With the elusive Mrs. Warren, perhaps?" Blakesley asked.
    "Perhaps," Dutton said stiffly, or as stiffly as five glasses of whisky would allow.
    Blakesley smiled sarcastically. "If a pearl necklace could not rope her, I daresay nothing can."
    "The price is not always pearls."
    "True," Blakesley said, tipping his chair back on its rear legs. "Perhaps you ought to try diamonds."
    "Not every woman has a jewel price, Blakesley," Dutton grumbled.
    "Don't they? I would never have guessed you for a romantic, Dutton."
    "Though I would have guessed you for a—"
    Dutton stopped abruptly. Foxed, yes, but not blind. If he continued on with his thought, that Blakesley was a fool for the rather too obvious Louisa Kirkland, he would likely end up on some dueling field at some ungodly hour. He hated ungodly hours as a general rule.
    "A cynic," he finished.
    Blakesley merely smiled in response, cynically.
    "I can live without your pearls, Dutton."
    "I believe the question is whether or not Louisa can live without the pearls. Or whether she will have a rousing good time in trying to win them back."
    At that remark, rather coarse, he must admit, but also exceedingly true, Blakesley's frigid blue eyes burned.
    Dutton didn't care what happened with Blakesley's eyes. At that particular moment, he only cared about causing a bit of mischief. He could not have said why. It was a particular pleasure of his that he lived his life without looking for reasons behind every action, which anyone would be forced to admit was bound to be a very tedious way to live.
    Dutton, as a rule, avoided tedium. Which, oddly, made him think once again of Anne Warren.
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Six
    IT was quite obvious to the most casual observer, which Lord Henry Blakesley was most decidedly not, that the Marquis of Dutton was completely foxed. It was also equally obvious that Dutton had struck upon a plan that might, in the most generous interpretation, have merit.
    Louisa had seen the Melverley pearls, her pearls, presented to another woman in the most flagrant manner imaginable by the man she had an unhealthy and illogical fascination for, namely, Lord Dutton. Louisa would want her pearls back. That Dutton was in possession of them would be an irresistible combination for her;