Free Heiress in Love by Christina Brooke Page A

spoke softly, startling her. “What possessed Frederick to leave it all to you, hmm?”
    There was a suggestive note to that husky voice that she didn’t like. She had the impression he sized her up as a bed partner. Perhaps he suspected she’d persuaded a fortune out of Frederick in return for spectacular sexual favors.
    How ironic.
    “Frederick was mad to do it,” she managed. “I had nothing to say in the matter or I would have told him so.”
    Silence.
    He didn’t believe her.
    Jane swallowed, trying to order her thoughts. Luke’s happiness was at stake. She couldn’t allow Constantine Black to befuddle her with his practiced wiles.
    She rounded on him. “Let’s be done with this game of cat and mouse, sir. You know what I want. All I care about is keeping Luke with me. If I must marry you to do that, so be it.”
    “You’d sacrifice your freedom and your fortune for one scrap of a boy?” His tone told her he found that difficult to believe.
    Her voice shook. “Luke is like a son to me.” He was a son to her. She’d fight for him with her last breath.
    Clearly, this reprobate before her would never understand the depth of her feelings. It was useless to even try to explain them.
    Goaded beyond civility, she fired her words at him like grapeshot. “Will you or will you not marry me?”
    Unmoved by the verbal barrage, he unleashed on her the full power of his most charming smile.
    “I don’t know,” he said simply. “I haven’t decided.”

 
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Jane set the candle down at a safe distance from Luke’s bed so as not to disturb him. As she peered through the gloom, she realized Luke’s eyes were wide open, watching her.
    “It’s very late,” she said softly. “You should be asleep.”
    “Can’t,” he whispered back. “You forgot to read me a story.”
    Oh, dear. “Darling, I’m so sorry. It’s been such a busy day.”
    She hadn’t forgotten, not really. But it was late by the time the final guests had left. After that, she’d been obliged to tend to Lady Endicott, who was suffering a fit of the vapors—brought on by her blackguard nephew, no doubt. She’d managed to extricate herself from the countess, only to realize it was an hour past Luke’s bedtime.
    After her fraught interview with Constantine, she’d stolen away to check on Luke, fully expecting him to be asleep. But the last few days had brought great upheaval in this little boy’s world. It was hardly surprising he couldn’t settle.
    That firmed Jane’s determination to say nothing to Luke about Constantine’s guardianship until she’d resolved the problem to her satisfaction. Why worry the poor little fellow about it now? Not even Constantine could be so callous as to part them immediately. In the meantime, she’d do her utmost to convince the new baron to fall in with her plans.
    Gently, she stroked Luke’s curly hair back from his forehead, then traced his eyebrow with her fingertip. Would reading help him sleep or merely excite him?
    “Please?” He did his best to look soulful and failed utterly, the imp. “I need to find out what happened to Sir Ninian.”
    She didn’t even try to resist that imploring look. “Very well. But only another ten minutes, mind.” Jane crossed to the bookcase to find Sir Ninian’s adventures.
    “Here we are,” she said, drawing out the volume. “Do you remember where we left him?”
    “About to be boiled in oil?” said Luke with undisguised relish.
    She chuckled. “Ah, that’s right.” Jane slid her finger along the pages of the book she’d marked with a green ribbon. The spine crackled as she spread the novel open and began to read.
    Poor Sir Ninian, indeed! Cecily, the minx, had penned this thrilling tale of derring-do when still in the schoolroom. Sir Ninian Trinian was supposed to be the hero of the tale, yet he was always being rescued by the resourceful and redoubtable Henrietta Peddlethorpe, the tavernkeeper’s daughter. Delighting in