Page 21 of How the Earl Entices

Certainly not.He muttered as he straightened, “But you’re a natural at blackmail.”

With a wry smile, she stepped past him to collect the tray from the bedside table. “Then you shouldn’t have picked my cottage to force—”

Without warning, he grabbed her around the waist and tossed her onto the bed. He knocked away the little knife, then covered her with his heavy body to hold her trapped beneath him.

He pinned her arms over her head and smiled. “And you shouldn’t have untied me.”

Chapter 7

“Let go of me!” Grace couldn’t pull her arms and legs free, able to do little more than wiggle. Last night she’d wondered what it would feel like to lie beneath him, his weight pressing down upon her— Oh, fate was surely laughing at her! “I agreed to help you!”

“You blackmailed me.” His face hovered so close to hers as he leaned over her that his breath tickled her lips. “Why?”

“I told you.” She stilled beneath him. There was no point in struggling. She wouldn’t be released until he was ready, blast him!

“You’ve told me practically nothing. And most of that was lies.”

“Because I cannot tell you the truth.” Not yet. She couldn’t risk that Ross might discover who she was and refuse to help. Or worse, somehow alert Vincent to Ethan’s existence. “Andyoucertainly haven’t toldmethe truth.”

He smiled, his sensuous lips pulling into a dark grin. “This isn’t about me. I’ve got the upper hand now.” His eyes stared into hers so deeply that she could see flecks of indigo in their sapphire depths. “Unless you want me to tieyouup, you’d best start giving explanations, Mrs. Alden. Starting with the real name of your husband.”

“He was a gentleman,” she repeated. “He died, and I was forced out of my home and our son out of his inheritance by my brother-in-law. That’s all you need to know for now.”

He laughed. The deep sound rumbled from his hard chest into hers, tingling through her from head to toes. “Not even close.”

Ironic. She couldn’t be any closer if she tried. Not with his bare chest pressing down against her breasts beneath her damp dress, his heavy leg tossed over both of hers.

“Tell me his name.”

“No.” She’d go to her grave keeping that secret if she had to, because revealing it might very well mean putting Ethan into his.

His eyes flickered, as if he knew it was useless to press. “How did he die?”

“Unexpectedly.” Her eyes stung at the memory. She’d long ago stopped mourning David’s death, but she would always grieve for how his life was cut short. “From fever.”

She turned her head away and closed her eyes, unwilling to let him see any tell-tale tears. Guilt still ate at her that she hadn’t been at his side when he’d passed away. She’d been ill and in her own bed, with Vincent standing watch at his sickbed. At the time, she’d believed that she’d come down with the same sickness, only to realize later that her illness had portended a miracle. She’d been with child.

“I’m sorry.”

She opened her eyes and saw genuine concern in his. “Thank you.”

His expression softened, so did his voice as he asked quietly, “You were cheated out of your inheritance?”

“Yes.” All she’d been able to keep were a few jewels she’d taken with her when she’d fled. The same jewels she’d been forced to sell one by one over the years in order to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. “But my inheritance doesn’t matter. I don’t care if I never receive a penny of that. What matters is that my son gains what is rightfully his and the life he deserves.”

He frowned. “As a gentleman, your husband should have had a will in place, and you should have had a dower. How could anyone have stolen your inheritance?”

“When a powerful man wants to steal from a young widow with no other male relatives,” she said quietly, “who would dare stop him?”

He grimaced at the brutal truth of that. “And your son’s?”

“Ethan wasn’t born yet. No one knew I was with child.”

“You can’t keep a thing like that hidden.”

She held his gaze as she whispered, “You can if you flee.”

His dark blue eyes narrowed. “Why would you do that?”