Free Beauty and the Earl by Jess Michaels Page A

and gathered her discarded gown and other things. When they were piled neatly in her arms, she blew him a kiss and turned to pad naked out his door and across the hall, with only the barest glance back at him.
    Liam stared, then flopped back on his bed with a laugh. He had never known a woman like Violet Milford before. And he had a feeling he would never experience a force like her again.
    So he had best enjoy it while he had it.

Chapter Seven
    An hour later, Violet was sitting at the dressing table in the chamber Liam had provided, staring at her reflection as she replayed everything that had transpired between them. She had revealed something of herself, as was her plan…but the knowledge that she had become so vulnerable made her hands shake as she pressed them against her hot cheeks.
    There was a knock behind her, and she called out, “Come in.”
    In the reflection from the mirror, she saw Olivia come into the room. Her friend’s hair was still down, but she was dressed for dinner.
    “Did they perhaps put my small bag in your room by mistake?” Olivia asked as she stepped inside.
    Violet motioned to the stack of trunks and luggage that had been deposited in her corner by the time she claimed the room. Rachel had wanted to unpack her, but Violet had refused, insisting on time alone after she had been dressed and her hair fixed.
    “Look there, it’s possible. Who knew we had so many things? It’s a little embarrassing.”
    “We are women, we must have many things. I feel no embarrassment whatsoever.” Olivia laughed as she went to the pile and began moving things around. She glanced up as she went about her work. “Your face is a little grave—did things not go well with the handsome earl?”
    Violet strummed her fingers along the top of the dressing table and shook her head. “No, everything went just to plan.”
    “Ah ha!” Olivia emerged from the pile with a small bag, and Violet couldn’t help but laugh even though her nerves persisted.
    Olivia didn’t excuse herself immediately, but sat down at the end of Violet’s bed and looked at her.
    “If everything went ‘just to plan’, as you say, why do you seem so nervous and anxious? It isn’t like you to be so affected by a man.”
    Violet wrung her hands. “I-I told him just a little about John Salsworth.”
    Olivia stared at her as the bag she had been clutching in her hand slipped away to clatter on the ground.  
    “Why?” Olivia asked, her voice rising. “What would make you be so forthcoming?”
    Violet swallowed hard. Her friend’s reaction was making her question the prudence of an action she already doubted.  
    “Have you ever heard of Scheherazade?” she asked.
    Her friend shook her head. “You know I’m no scholar. What is a Scheherazade?”
    Violet pushed to her feet. “She is the main character of a story written very long ago in a country very far away. I read a translation in French when I was a girl. Essentially it is the story of a king who executes his wives after spending just one night with them, for fear of them cuckolding him.”
    “A vast overreaction,” Olivia said with a shake of her head.
    Violet shrugged. “That is another discussion entirely. In the story, Scheherazade is given to the king as another in his string of brides. She doesn’t want to die, so on the first night, she tells him a story. Well, part of a story. He’s so interested that he doesn’t kill her and encourages her to tell him more. Every night for a thousand and one nights, she continues to tell him a piece of her tale. By the end, he is in love with her and does not murder her, but keeps her as his bride and queen.”
    “Well, I hope you don’t think the earl intends to kill you,” Olivia said.
    “No, of course not. But I do think that I, like Scheherazade, must lure him in. Capture his interest.” She sighed. “I give him my trust in the belief that he will return it in time and tell me more about himself so that I might complete