Free Everything Forbidden by Jess Michaels Page A

then spend the night. Since she is a Dowager Duchess, my mother wants to encourage the supposed friendship,” she explained carefully.
    Ethan leaned back with a low whistle. “Ingenious, my dear. Lady Ingleworth is practically a shut in. There will be no awkwardness of meeting with her in London and being caught in the lie later.”
    Miranda sighed. Ethan was clearly amused by the situation, but she was not. The idea of having her lie revealed and her mother pick and pick at her until the truth was uncovered kept her up at night.
    “Yes, that is what I thought as well.”
    “Hmmm.” He seemed bored of the subject already. “What do you think of my room?” He motioned around them without looking away from her.
    She folded her arms. “It suits you far better than the rest of the house.”
    He chuckled. “How impertinent, but probably true. The rest of the house is for public consumption. One must make allowances for their prim expectations. But this is my room.”
    “Your chamber?” Miranda asked past a suddenly very dry throat. So this was where he slept. Dressed. Dreamed. Those mundane activities were ones she had wondered about, even though she knew the intimate details of his affairs.
    He smiled again as he moved to a table that held a bottle of red wine and poured her a glass. “No, no. Even I can only live in such decadence for short periods of time. This is the room where I entertain , for lack of a better word.”
    Miranda took the glass he offered and sipped the wine. It was a fine vintage, not cheap and watered down like the kind served in her household. Her mother complained endlessly about it, but she’d somehow convinced herself that it wasn’t really worse.
    She had been wrong. The delicate liquid slipped down her throat with a heavenly bite.
    “You don’t entertain here that often,” she said as she took a second sip. “I’ve never seen this room before and you’ve invited our family to several events over the years.”
    Ethan arched a brow. “If I had known what a delightful student you would turn out to be, Miranda, I would have invited you to this room long ago.”
    “You lie,” Miranda said with a laugh. “You never even looked at me before I showed up here unescorted.”
    He stepped back, apparently surprised by her outburst. Miranda looked at her half-empty wineglass. She’d rather forgotten how little alcohol her body could take before she startedsaying things she didn’t mean to say out loud. She set the glass aside before she blurted out anything else and made an effort to look comfortable despite her sudden embarrassment.
    He tilted his head closer. “I don’t make a habit out of ruining women who will want more than a few months in my bed, at best. I assumed you would want a lifetime commitment, so I stayed away. But I noticed you, my dear.”
    His smile was positively animal and he moved toward her like he was a cat and she a helpless mouse. Suddenly she felt like one.
    “What did you notice?” she asked softly.
    “Your eyes, your lithe frame, those pretty breasts of yours.” His voice dropped lower to a seductive level that raked over her senses. “But mostly I noticed how you looked at me . Like you knew my secrets.”
    Miranda started. She hadn’t realized her appraisals of him had been so transparent. Thank goodness he didn’t know exactly what secrets she did know.
    “I imagine you must have many secrets, Ethan,” she countered, stepping out of his reach to pace across the room.
    He laughed. “And I am beginning to think you have a few as well. I’m going to enjoy ferreting them out and exploiting them.”
    Miranda turned on him with a gasp and found him watching her intently. “You are a cad.”
    “Of course,” he agreed with a good-natured grin. Then he motioned toward the wall behind her. “What do you think of my art work?”
    She wrinkled her brow at the sudden change of subject before she turned to look at the picture he’d indicated. She sucked in