Free The Punishment of Ivy Leavold (Markham Hall Book 3) by Sierra Simone Page A

pensive when I visited, but yet, more receptive to me somehow. She let me run my fingers over her hand when her aunt wasn’t looking, and yesterday, when I politely made my goodbyes and left, she caught up to me in the street.
    I don’t know what I’d expected—a kiss, a slap—anything was possible with Ivy Leavold. But instead she’d slid her hand into my jacket, her fingertips running over the soft cotton of my shirt, running from my chest down to my abdomen. My stomach had tightened involuntarily, and I knew that if she kept touching me, no matter how innocuous it actually was, I would probably do something we both regretted. I had been growing harder by the second, all of me so starved for her touch, and then she’d lifted her fingers and reached into the pocket inside my jacket. She’d pulled out the leaf I had put there earlier this week.
    “You really did keep it,” she’d whispered.
    “I mean the things I say, Ivy.”
    She’d nodded then, as if hearing confirmation of something she already knew, and then replaced the leaf. When she’d turned to leave, I’d caught her hand.
    “Are you coming to the party tomorrow?”
    “I think…” she smiled at me and it was like watching the sun come out from behind the clouds. “I think I would like to.”
    “I’ll be waiting.” And then I’d kissed her hand and let her go.
    And so, with these quiet advances in my mission, it was the day of what I considered the final test. The day of the party. I knew that if Ivy came, she was mine, that I would finally be able to claim her for once and for all. And I had every reason to believe that she would come…so why was I so anxious?
    “You are giving me a headache,” Silas complained as we rolled toward the Baron’s mansion outside the city. “She’ll be there.”
    “I think so too. But what if she isn’t? What if I lose her forever?”
    “Well, you can’t change it if you do lose her. As you kept reminding her, it’s her choice. Therefore: out of your hands. Now relax and have a good time. If she doesn’t show, you know that every woman and even some of the men in that house would give their eyeteeth to go to bed with you.”
    “I’m not going to bed with anyone besides Ivy,” I growled.
    “Relax. I was joking. No one wants to sleep with you anyway. They’ll be too busy sleeping with me.”
    I didn’t respond, but I stared stonily out of the carriage window.
    “Did your housekeeper ever find you again?”
    I shook my head. Brightmore had left a note this morning for me to meet her tonight, again at the Serpentine, but there was no way I could miss the chance to meet Ivy, no matter what Brightmore had to say. “I asked Gareth to stay at the hotel, so he’ll come get me if she needs something urgently. Otherwise, whatever she has to tell me can wait until tomorrow.”
    “I always thought there was a screw loose with her.”
    “There’s nothing wrong with her,” I said tightly. “Or my valet. Or anyone else in my life.”
    “Christ, you are tense today. You need a good fuck, Jules, or barring that, a stiff drink.”
    I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. “I’m sorry. You’ve done nothing wrong, and I shouldn’t be taking these things out on you.”
    “I’m used to your brooding, old boy. Now you better put your mask on. You know how the Baron gets.”

    I brought Esther to Lord Gravendon’s. It may not have been wise, but I didn’t see how I could hide it from her, short of sneaking out of the house, and I wasn’t ready to do that. Not when I was so uncertain about tonight as it was.
    Besides, when I mentioned that I had an invitation to the most exclusive party in Britain, she showed nothing but unfettered glee. She had even insisted that we shop that very day for masks, and she wouldn’t stop talking about how shocking she heard it all was, and also how delighted she was to go.
    “But you mustn’t gossip about what you see,” I’d reminded her firmly. “The people at