Free Lord Gray's List by Maggie Robinson Page B

interested in. I believe you have an admirer, Evie.”
    “Nonsense. I’m quite sure he doesn’t know I’m really a woman. And he only likes me because I’ve published his execrable poetry without batting an eye. Any writer is a slave to praise, no matter how faint it is.”
    Ben barked a laugh. “My mother’s right, you know. You do write well, even when you are accusing me of all sorts of things.”
    “Not accusing! Just stating the facts.”
    “Too persuasively. And not at all in a fair and balanced way.” He sighed heavily. “Water under the bridge. I thought we were done tormenting each other after last week. Why did you publish this last issue?”
    “I had a responsibility to my readers. As you heard, if you yank the paper away, they’ll have nowhere to find their husbands and jobs and runaway wives.”
    “One of the other papers in the city can step up. I’m surprised they haven’t been in competition with you already.”
    Evangeline had worked very hard to ensure she had a loyal readership. Her advertising rates were the lowest—too low, sometimes even free if circumstances warranted it. So many of her readers did not have a penny to spare. It was the ton’s subscriptions that had kept The London List afloat, the greedy thirst of the aristocracy for the latest on dit and scandal broth that was never quite quenched. Ben might not know it, but articles about his escapades had provided most of the funds for Evangeline’s charitable impulses. There was a great deal to the newspaper that few suspected.
    She shook her head. “There’s nothing like The List .”
    “Yes, most papers have standards. Am I never to have peace? I’ve told you I’m reforming. I am going to a bloody Christmas ball with my mother tomorrow evening, curse it. Why can’t the Capshaws keep an abstemious Advent like good Christians?”
    “This isn’t about you anymore, Ben. You were the marquee performance, but countless other people have a stake in this enterprise. Please reconsider your decision.”
    “Because if I don’t, you’ll get that gang outside to make my life a daily misery!” Ben snapped.
    Evangeline suppressed a grin. That was a very attractive thought, although the idea of standing around in the cold street all day long had little appeal. “Please think about it. I’ll go back to the office and let the people know you might change your mind. And I wonder if I might have my key back. My coat and gloves are inside.”
    “I told you I’d go with you.”
    “You’ll only become more aggravated when you don’t tell them what they want to hear and they pounce on you.”
    Ben grimaced. “I’m sure I can hold my own if anyone dares to lay a finger on me.”
    Evangeline didn’t doubt it. Ben’s strong, sinewed body was perfection, and she would never see it again. She pushed the little pang of regret away and pulled her scarf tighter.
    “You can’t go out like that—you’ll freeze your cold heart. Let me get you one of my coats.”
    “Really, I’m perfectly all right.”
    “Just for once, Evie, show some sense and do as I ask. You’ve always been a little fool.”
    “I am neither little nor a fool, my lord,” Evangeline said, struggling to keep her temper. “You can’t go ordering me about. You have no right. You’re not my husband. If you recall, I turned you down.”
    “And praise God for it—if you were my wife I’d have been shipped off to Australia years ago for your murder.”
    “As I said just days ago, I would never marry you under any circumstances.” Her courses had come, thank heavens, so there was no need to worry about finding herself with Ben’s bastard child.
    “Too right you’ll never marry me, because I’ll never ask again. But I am offering you a coat, because, you silly chit, look out the window. It is snowing! You may think me a blackguard, but I don’t want your death on my hands unless I can get some actual enjoyment out of it.”
    “I don’t want your bloody