Free Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) by Beverley Oakley Page A

them? After I could have enjoyed wedded bliss with you? I despise Mr. Woking and I fear Lord Debenham, but I was in their clutches. All because of your brother!”
    “My brother?!” Teddy looked shocked. “What on earth are you talking about?”
    Araminta beckoned him closer so she could lower her voice. Meanwhile, her mind was running in circles. Lord Tunbridge was angry, but she’d seen cracks in his armor. He could be brought around if she only found the right words, the right argument. “Surely your brother has told you about the government’s suspicions regarding Debenham’s involvement in a certain matter pertaining to...to espionage?” She went on at the flare in his eye. “You know of course that your brother Ralph Tunley’s sweetheart is my half-sister? Yes, it’s scandalous, and I’m ashamed to admit it. I learned the truth a few months ago when we were mistaken for one another. Apparently, we share an uncommon similarity. You do not think so? Well, in certain lights, if we adopt the same smile and mannerisms we could be mistaken for twins. I’ve heard it from many, and I heard it from Lord Debenham. Come closer, Lord Tunbridge, so I can tell you of the terrible fate that befell me no sooner than you’d abandoned me.”
    Warily, he advanced, his expression a mixture of uncertainty and desire. Araminta reached up and touched his cheek briefly, leaving him, she hoped, in no doubt about the sincerity of her feelings. “The fact is, I was tragically mistaken for my half-sister Larissa when she visited Sir Aubrey in his supper box—alone—in Vauxhall Gardens,” she whispered, cupping his cheek to bring his head closer to her lips. How she longed to nibble that beautiful earlobe. And that would only be the beginning. With a heartfelt sigh, she continued, “Lord knows what she was doing, but then, to make matters worse, she was observed visiting Debenham. He didn’t know what to do; he was outraged, of course, and sent her away. But evil tongues began to wag, claiming it was me . But Debenham had been with men he knew would place him under suspicions, and that’s the reason he kidnapped me when I was for a moment separated from Hetty, and he held me prisoner in his supper box as he all but forced me to agree to marry him.”
    “Dear God, he kidnapped you to try and force your hand? Did he...?” Lord Tunbridge—her darling Teddy—broke off, his skin taking on a darker hue which Araminta could see even in this dim light.
    “Did he force me into anything? No, he did not. Not on this night, anyway.” Araminta was conscious of the wretched baby turning a summersault. Lord, she’d thought her difficulties would be over when she found a father for it; yet keeping up the fiction that it had been conceived two months later than, in fact, this particular night in question, was proving a nightmare.
    “Why did you not tell me this? I’d have ensured your reputation was not besmirched. Why could you not have trusted me?”
    “I wanted to tell you, and that’s part of the reason I rushed after you in the middle of the night after I’d agreed to marry you...but you’d already left for France.” She gulped. “I knew there could not be this terrible secret between us. On my return in the carriage, not two minutes after my maid had spoken to your butler, by chance we happened upon Mr. Woking who was in his cups and who stumbled in front of the carriage. Lord, we nearly rode right over him! We stopped to pick him up and take him home, and he told me that his uncle was about to tell the world that I’d...spent the entire night with him in his supper box, as he needed an alibi since my half-sister had sketched a drawing that showed Lord Debenham in company with the other two plotters whom the English Government are investigating for some nefarious dealings. You do realize your brother is working in secret for them? Yes, I discovered that through my maid, though I’ve not told Debenham. No, not even my own