Free Once and Always by Judith McNaught Page A

suggest we keep that little betrothal announcement a secret from her? I’ll think of some way to rescind it without causing embarrassment to either of you, but we can’t do it immediately.” When Jason’s eyes narrowed on his smile, Charles quickly sobered. “She is a child, Jason—a brave, proud girl who is trying to make the best of things in a cruel world she isn’t equipped to face. If we revoke the betrothal too soon after her arrival here, she’ll be a laughingstock in London. They’ll say you took one look at her and cried off.”
    A vision of dark-lashed, glowing blue eyes and a face too beautiful to be real drifted through Jason’s mind. He remembered the entrancing smile that had touched her soft lips a few minutes ago, before she became aware of his presence in the dining room. In retrospect, she did seem rather like a vulnerable child.
    “Go talk to her, please,” Charles implored.
    “I’ll talk to her,” Jason agreed shortly.
    “But will you make her feel welcome?”
    “That depends on how she behaves when I find her.”
    In her room, Victoria snatched another armload of clothes from the armoire while Jason Fielding’s words hammered painfully in her brain.
Whining little BEGGAR . . . I don’t want her here. . . . Whining little BEGGAR
... She hadn’t found a new home at all, she thought hysterically. Fate had merely been playing a vicious joke on her. She stuffed the clothes into her trunk. Standing up again she turned toward the armoire and let out a gasp of fright. “You!” she choked, glaring at the tall, forbidding figure lounging just inside the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. Angry with herself for letting him see her fright, she put her chin up, absolutely determined not to let him intimidate her again. “Someone should have taught you to knock before you enter a room.”
    “Knock?” he repeated with dry mockery. “When the door is already open?” He shifted his attention to her open trunk and raised his eyebrows. “Are you leaving?”
    “Obviously,” Victoria replied.
    “Why?”
    “Why?” she burst out in disbelief. “Because I am
not
a whining little beggar, and for your information, I
hate
being a burden to anyone.”
    Instead of looking guilty because she’d overheard his cutting remarks, he looked slightly amused. “Didn’t anyone ever teach
you
not to eavesdrop?”
    “I was not eavesdropping,” Victoria retorted. “You were assassinating my character in a voice that could be heard all the way to London.”
    “Where are you planning to go?” he asked, ignoring her criticism.
    “That’s none of your business.”
    “Humor me!” he snapped, his manner suddenly turning cold and commanding.
    Victoria shot him a mutinous, measuring look. Leaning in the doorway, he looked dangerous and invincible. His shoulders were wide, his chest deep, and his white shirt-sleeves were rolled up, displaying darkly tanned, very muscular forearms whose strength she had already experienced when he carried her upstairs yesterday. She also knew he had a vile temper, and judging from the ominous look in his hard jade eyes, he was even now considering shaking the answer out of her. Rather than give him that satisfaction, Victoria said frigidly, “I have a little money. I’ll find a place to live in the village.”
    “Really?” he drawled sarcastically. “Just out of curiosity, when your ‘little money’ runs out, how will you live?”
    “I’ll work!” Victoria informed him, trying to shatter his infuriating composure.
    His dark brows shot up in sardonic amusement. “What a novel idea—a woman who actually wants to work. Tell me, what sort of work can you do?” His question snapped out like a whip. “Can you push a plow?”
    “No—”
    “Can you drive a nail?”
    “No.”
    “Can you milk a cow?”
    “No!”
    “Then you’re useless to yourself and to anyone else, aren’t you?” he pointed out mercilessly.
    “I most certainly am not!” she denied with