Free Simply Sinful by Kate Pearce

all an elaborate ruse to persuade James to leave me, I’d rather know now.”
    Peter sighed. “I understand how you feel, my lady, and I applaud you for your frankness. The only way I can prove to you that I am sincere is by giving you my word that I will never mention anything that happens between the three of us to another soul. If you can accept that, I believe we can arrive at a very satisfactory arrangement for us all.”
    She stared hard at him, noticed the seriousness of his expression and the directness of his stare. Despite her isolation, or perhaps because of it, she considered herself a good judge of character. Perchance it was time to make that leap of faith. She held out her hand.
    “Please call me Abigail.”
    He took her fingers within his own and lightly kissed them. “And I am Peter. I would be honored to serve you, ma’am.”
    James leaned forward and covered both of their hands with his own. He squeezed hard. “Then shall we drink to our new association?”
    Abigail sat back as James held up his glass. “To new beginnings.”
    She obligingly clinked her glass against the other two glasses and took a small sip of brandy. Her hand shook and the rim bumped her lip, splashing brandy onto her sleeve.
    Peter’s fingers closed gently around her wrist and righted the glass. “Relax, my lady, nothing is going to happen to you tonight. We need time to get to know each other.”
    She smiled at him as she swallowed some more brandy. “It’s all right; I didn’t think you were going to leap on me and tear my clothes off.”
    His smile held a hint of mischief and approval. “That’s for tomorrow night, didn’t James tell you?”
    Abby put the glass down before she dropped it. “Are you jesting with me?”
    “Yes, I believe I am.”
    She found herself smiling back at him and relaxing into her chair. Peter finished his brandy and glanced across at James.
    “Before we go any further, I’d like to tell you something about myself. James might already have heard the gossip, but I think you should hear the truth.”
    James raised an eyebrow. “I thought we’d already agreed to proceed, but if you think it necessary.”
    Peter studied his empty brandy glass. “Twenty-four years ago, the ship I was on was attacked by pirates. Another boy and I were taken prisoner and sold as slaves in Turkey.”
    “I remember reading about this in the papers,” James said. “You were rescued at the age of eighteen by an English merchant and returned to our fair shores.”
    “That’s correct. We were slaves for seven years.” Peter still refused to look at Abby. “What most people don’t know is that we were slaves in a Turkish brothel.”
    Abby covered her mouth with her hand. “But you were only eleven years old when you were captured.”
    His mouth twisted. “I suppose we were lucky in some ways. At least the woman who bought us waited until we were old enough to get an erection before she set us to work as sex slaves.”
    “And how old were you, then?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Old enough to fuck and for her to be paid for it, that’s all she cared about. It could’ve been worse.” He gave her another charming smile, which didn’t quite succeed in blocking the more horrific images his graphic language had conjured in her mind.
    “Christ.”
    James finished his brandy in one swallow and slammed the glass down onto the table. Despite James’s outburst, Peter kept his attention on her. “If my past offends you, I would be happy to leave your home. And of course, my offer to remain silent stands.”
    The clock on the mantelpiece wheezed and clicked as it struck the half hour. Abby made sure she kept her gaze fixed firmly on Peter. “Why should I be offended by your past? You were the one who had the tenacity to survive it, not me.”
    He smiled at her; the beauty of it made her want to weep. He was obviously not the kind of man who needed or expected to be pitied.
    “Thank you for that.”
    James stood up