Free Suzanne Robinson by Lady Dangerous Page A

like bullion, in a place far away from their employer, when he would have to return them?
    Such questions would have to wait for answers. Liza turned on her side and winced at the twinge in her back. Yes, she had expected depravity of the viscount, but never had she imagined that he would conceive a passion for her coal-dusty and fulsome self.
    No gentleman had ever lusted after her. Even more unimaginable, she suspected that she was aroused by his interest. Why else would she fail to run from him when he advanced, when he might be a murderer? Even if he wasn’t one, she should have run.
    Elizabeth Maud Elliot, how unmaidenly. What improper conduct. How unbecoming. How dangerously foolish
. Liza sighed and turned on her back to stare at the ceiling. She was a poor creature, a poor creature indeed. If she was going to succumb to a gentleman, she might as well have stayed at home and married one of Father’s boorish, self-interested, and close-minded persons of title. But then, she’d never had difficulty conceiving a distaste for any of them.
    Jocelin Marshall, now, he was different. He had but to set foot in her presence, and she became fascinated. She couldn’t claim that her interest was all due to his pursuit either. From the moment his carriage had pulled up to the line of servants that night, she had been drawn to him. Heavens, she’d been captivated by his boots.
    She could govern herself, however. She could. Dear Lord, she must keep her suspicions in mind for her own sake. She had the strength to do so. She wasas strong as a house in her resolve. Therefore she needn’t quit the viscount’s household so precipitously. After all, any woman would be enticed by a man like that. Exotic, wondrous in his black-cat appearance, dangerous, he cast into shadow the effete society men of her acquaintance.
    She would have to be more careful if she returned. No more cleaning his room. No more going above stairs when he was about. He seemed to have the ability to discern where she was and trap her. She would take greater care. That was all.
    Having resolved most of her dilemmas, if not the mystery of her brother’s death, she took herself off to bed. The next morning she was in her office going over receipts with Toby and his daughter, Betty. They’d been running Pennant’s while she was gone.
    Liza sat in her leather armchair behind the big cherrywood desk she’d found at an auction. Betty hauled out the leather-bound book of days in which they recorded their schedule by the week. While Liza gnawed on the end of a fountain pen, she detailed the activities of the past fortnight.
    “And we have the Duke of Lessborough’s banquet next week?” Liza asked.
    “Yes, and his secretary has been hounding me about Monsieur Jacques. I’ve assured him that he would get Monsieur Jacques, but he’s still atwitter.”
    Monsieur Jacques—really Elihu Diver, ex-seaman and ship’s cook—was in great demand. He was in demand because Liza had started a rumor through her mother that his recipes had been handed down from Marie Antoinette’s chef.
    “Very well,” Liza said as she turned a page of the schedule. “Toby, write a letter from Pennant’s to the secretary promising Monsieur Jacques.”
    She glanced at the watch pinned to the shoulder of her gown. Ten o’clock. “Time to receive, Toby.”
    The rest of the day passed quickly, for there were bills to pay and new people to hire. Pennant’s reputation had spread in the three years since she began. After Papa had thrown her out of her only home and she’d come to the town house run by Toby, she’d been confident that she could be a maid of all work. How hard could it be? She’d soon learned that there was more to dusting than just running a cloth over furniture, more to serving than just plopping plates down on a table. The first day, she’d tried to dust an arrangement of dried flowers and destroyed it.
    Toby could have gotten rid of her, but he took pity on her ignorance