Barbara Pierce

by Naughty by Nature

  Still, a young girl could dream.

  They were like the traveling minstrels of old, moving from one village to another, bringing news from the towns Patience would likely never visit, and for a brief moment these wondrous players filled her mundane world with excitement. There was more to life than dance lessons, recitation from dry, uninteresting tomes, and limpid hues of watercolors she tried each afternoon to perfect. Oh, how she envied the players’ freedom, the fawning attention they had received after their performances from her family and neighbors.

  She had almost fainted when her father had provided a personal introduction to Mr. Phoenix. Patience had shyly gazed up into his soulful brown eyes and sensed a kindred spirit. The subsequent meetings that took place without her family’s knowledge had sealed her fate. She wholly offered him her tender heart, and Phoenix vowed to share his beguiling world with her. Even when he had revealed his true vicious nature, she had remained at his side. Heartbroken and slightly wiser, she understood better than Phoenix that her actions would be considered unforgivable by her parents. She had nowhere else to go.

  “Come now, love,” Phoenix cajoled, realizing she was not cowed by violence. “Your skills for tragedy have been honed to a razor’s edge since our dramatic escape from your family’s lands. What I ask of you is no more than any sage miss would offer a prosperous gent who is willing to fill her greedy hands with gold.”

  Panting slightly, Patience steadied herself by gripping one of the wooden structural posts of the barn. “And you knew my answer, even as you accepted Lord Grattan’s gold. I will not be your whore!” she shouted at him, feeling the tenuous control she had over her temper slipping from its tether. With a soft disgruntled sound, she squeezed her eyes shut and thumped her forehead lightly against the wooden post at her own gullibility. Slowly, Patience turned her face toward him as her eyes snapped open. She pinned him with a bitter look. “You swore this engagement with His Lordship was for theatrical performances. You assured me this was not one of your infamous swindles.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I should have sensed you were up to ugly business when you told the others to wait for us at the inn. How much was my virtue worth, Mr. Phoenix? Was the value so high, it is worth the risk of a few bruises to gain my consent?”

  Phoenix lunged suddenly and caught one of her arms. Wrenching the abused limb sharply behind her back, he shoved her against the rough post. Patience would have rather bit her tongue in half than cry out.

  “What virtue, little pigeon? I distinctly recall the pleasure I took on your stiff little body when I relieved you of your fragile honor,” he said cruelly. “Lord Grattan does not want a virgin. In truth, most are tiresome. What he desires is a pretty player who feigns virtue and yet is willing to pleasure him with the appetites of a Covent Garden whore.”

  “Send Deidra,” Patience said, shuddering at the thought of being at the mercy of a man who viewed her only as a commodity that could be bought and sold. “She does not care who shares her bed, so long as she is compensated for the inconvenience.”

  He rewarded the insolent remark by giving the arm pressed behind Patience’s back a painful twist. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and endured. Like a translucent apparition, the young player’s face wavered in Patience’s mind. Deidra had no qualms about selling her body when the situation warranted. Although they had been discreet, Patience knew Phoenix and Deidra were lovers and had been so for years. When Deidra gazed at Phoenix, the blind devotion Patience glimpsed sickened her. Deidra was a constant reminder that love did not discriminate. It turned everyone into fools.

  “Deidra is prettier, I grant you,” he said, turning his face into Patience’s hair and breathing in her scent. “And obedient, too. Regretfully, His Lordship is smitten with your fair young face, sweet Patience. Our bargain is nullified if I send another chit in your stead.”

  Patience trembled against him. This was simply business to Julian Phoenix. He was anticipating the warmth of the hearth and the succulent-smelling dinner that awaited him back at the inn. “I cannot do it,” she said, shaking her head. “I cannot.” She had little left to sacrifice. If she surrendered to his demands, he would wholly break her. Patience tensed, bracing for the pain that was to come for her defiance.

  Julian Phoenix surprised her. He kissed the top of her head and sighed with resignation. “Somehow, I would have thought less of you if you had simply agreed.” Abruptly he released her.

  Still expecting some sort of trickery from him, Patience whirled around to confront him, but he had presented his back to her. “This is the end, then. You will refuse Lord Grattan’s offer.” As she rubbed her sore wrist, she tilted her head to the side, trying to deduce what Phoenix was doing.

  “On the contrary, I have every intention of personally tucking you into His Lordship’s bed.” Although Phoenix’s back was still facing her, he revealed a small dark glass bottle of laudanum that he must have kept in his inner pocket. “Past experience has taught me that even you can be amorous, even eagerly cooperative, with the proper inducement.” He turned his head and smiled.

  The calculated cruelty in his grin forced her to recall another time when he had forced the foul tincture down her throat. He had stolen her virginity from her that night. She felt something physically snap within her, freeing her from her frozen stance.

  “No!”

  Patience made a stumbling charge at Julian Phoenix, her arms stiff in front of her. If she could get by him and out of the barn, she had a chance of reaching the carriage just beyond the door.

  Like a trap being sprung, Phoenix lunged for her in an attempt to catch her. What he didn’t expect was that instead of dodging him, Patience collided with him in hopes of throwing him off balance. Both grunted at the bone-crunching collision, and Julian Phoenix staggered backward with Patience fiercely clutched to his chest. He fell against a wooden railing dividing the barn into sections and froze. A look of horror washed away his earlier anger and determination. Patience fell to her knees as he brought shaking hands to his side.

  Something was terrible wrong.

  Phoenix’s face was ashen. Even his lips had a bluish gray cast to them. His stance also seemed awkward. He had yet to move away from the railing they had collided against. Getting to her feet, she watched him warily open the left side of his coat.

  “Oh my God,” she said, her voice high with fear as she brought her hand to her throat. “The blood!”

  The unveiling revealed a bloodstained waistcoat. More disturbing were the evenly sharp tines puncturing his abdomen. A small helpless sound rattled in her throat as she circled around to glimpse the weapon of Julian Phoenix’s downfall.

  It was a long hay fork.

  The angle at which the fork had entered his back left him literally pinned to the railing. Phoenix tried to straighten, but his movements lacked his usual grace.

  “Pray, halt. Your floundering only makes what I have to do worse,” she pleaded.

  “I seem—I seem to be caught on something,” Phoenix confessed, glancing about the barn in confusion.

  “I know,” she grimly replied. The end of the handle was buried in the strewn hay on the dirt floor. Phoenix was wiggling like bait on a hook. Patience’s stomach roiled at the thought. Tentatively she bent down to pick up the handle.

  He screamed at the barest movement. “Leave it!”

  Phoenix looked horrible. His black hair was damp with sweat and his entire body was trembling. Patience hated him, but she discovered that she was not as heartless as she had thought. She felt no satisfaction in watching him suffer.

  “You have impaled yourself on a hay fork,” she said quietly. “I cannot remove it without assistance, and you are losing too much blood for me to summon help. Can you stand if I help you?”

  “Spitted like a pig,” he said through gritted teeth. “How you must relish my predicament.”

  “Immensely,” she blandly replied, hoping his anger would give him strength. Patience placed her left hand on his sh
oulder blade as she threaded her fingers on her right hand through the tines. “Though it was another creature that came to mind. Now, try to stand.”

  He was tall, but his lean figure belied the heaviness of marble. Patience pressed her face against the hand on his back and pushed.

  Phoenix chuckled faintly. “Which God’s creature do you view me akin to, my cruel pigeon? A rat? A sss-skunk?”

  His entire body was straining to obey her command to rise. Patience renewed her efforts to shove him onto his feet. She fully expected him to collapse the minute she removed the tines from his back. “No,” she panted, the irony that she was rescuing the very man who minutes earlier had planned to drug and sell her to some debauched earl not lost on her. When she had a moment to reflect on it, she could lament over her foolish actions. “More like a slimy squirming worm!”

  Bracing herself for what was to come, Patience ruthlessly jerked the wooden tines out of his flesh.

  Phoenix screamed and crumpled face-first into the soiled hay. Dropping the hay fork, Patience slipped through the railing and crouched down next to the unmoving man. Heaven help them both, there was so much blood. When she rolled him over, he did not even cry out. The front of him looked worse than his backside. She worried her lip as she pondered what she should do. She had no skill in the healing arts. The blood had soaked through his coat, and his breeches gleamed with the spreading wetness. Patience was so horrified by the blood, she started when he suddenly spoke.

  “You’ve had your revenge on me, have you not?” he rasped, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. Even the gaps between his teeth were tinged with blood. “You’ve killed me.”

  “No,” she said, folding up the bottom edge of his coat and pressing the extra fabric to his wounds. “I will return to the inn and get the others. We will bring a surgeon and he—”

  “Bloody stubborn,” Phoenix said, speaking over her plans. “Never listens. Should have just tossed up your skirts, amused myself for a time, and left you to your bland life. You were never worth the trouble. Never.”

  Patience’s lip trembled at his deathbed lecture. She glanced away, ignoring the sting of tears in her eyes. After everything she had endured at his hands, she was not going to allow him to make her feel guilty over what was clearly an accident. “The laudanum!” On her hands and knees, she raked the straw around them with her fingers. “It has to be somewhere.” The least she could do was ease his pain.

  Phoenix watched her frantic search for the bottle dispassionately. “They’ll likely hang you, you know,” he said with some amusement in his inflection. “What will your precious family think when they learn that you are a murderess?”

  Forgetting the laudanum, she slowly sat up on her heels. She had cut all ties to her family the night she had betrayed them by running off with a handsome player. Despite her best efforts to hide it from him, Phoenix knew discussing her family was akin to poking a fresh wound. “I have not murdered anyone.”

  He grimaced, keeping his hands tightly clenched to his side. “Not yet. But soon,” he assured her. “Deidra and the others back at the inn know we were arguing when we left them. When my body is discovered, they will deduce I was attacked from behind—”

  This was outrageous. A dying man was supposed to be truthful at the end. “You fell. I will tell them what you had planned … what you wanted me to do.” She gestured helplessly, foreseeing several complications in her explanations to the authorities.

  There was a disturbing rattle when he exhaled. “Perhaps. Either way, your fate looks grim, sweet Patience. If you convince the magistrate to believe your sordid tale of forced prostitution, he will believe you murdered me out of vengeance. If he doesn’t, he will believe you merely killed your lover because he turned to another.” Phoenix had the audacity to smile at her. “Deidra will verify that fact. The young lady loves me—and she certainly despises you.”

  Patience swiped at the strands of hair tickling her face. Where had all of this gone so wrong? He was the villain. She was just a sixteen-year-old girl who wanted her life back. “Cease talking about murder. I will ride on to the great house. I will bring back—”

  He did not seem to hear her. His eyes glazed, he dreamily contemplated her hanging. “Your lovely neck—”

  “No. Stop, I beg—” Patience brought her fingers to his lips, attempting to stem the flow of his cruel musings.

  “Will snap and—” he continued.

  She pounded her fists on her thighs in frustration. “Will you listen to me?”

  Although his gaze was fixed on her face, he seemed to be looking through her. “Those … delightful graceful limbs will sway.”

  He was determined to break her, leaving her in madness. Losing control, Patience seized him by the shoulders and shook him. “Hear me, you black-hearted scoundrel! I am not a murderess!” she screamed at him. “I am not a murderess!” Her denial disintegrated into broken sobs.

  This time, Julian Phoenix did not have a clever retort for her.

  With his lips an unflattering blue and his chest eerily still, the ensuing silence made a mockery of her hysterical denials.

  St. Martin’s Paperbacks Titles

  By Barbara Pierce

  SINFUL BETWEEN THE SHEETS

  WICKED UNDER THE COVERS

  COURTING THE COUNTESS

  TEMPTING THE HEIRESS

  Praise for Barbara Pierce and her novels

  SINFUL BETWEEN THE SHEETS

  “The second title in her enticing series pairs extraordinary characters in a sexually charged situation that allows you to explore a few fantasies of your own.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews

  “Pierce weaves a Regency tale studded with intrigue and steamy love scenes … a plot rich with unexpected twists, witty dialogue, and charming characters.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “The only disappointing thing about this book was that it had to end.”

  —Rakehell.com

  “This is a wonderful book and one I highly recommend to while away a rainy spring afternoon with.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “A highly entertaining historical romance with just the right touch of eroticism.”

  —Fallen Angel Reviews

  “Barbara Pierce puts pen to paper like a poet. I love reading her books.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  WICKED UNDER THE COVERS

  “Wonderfully written, fast-paced, and totally sexy.”

  —A Romance Review

  “The characters are intriguing, the story line is engaging, the sex is hot, and the romance is tender.”

  —JoyfullyReviewed.com

  “This was an impressive sensual read that will grab the reader from the first pages and not let you go until the very amusing and delightful end.”

  —TheMysticCastle.com

  “A steamy, romantic, scheming, and totally enjoyable Regency romance.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “There’s no disappointment from this author when it comes to the steamier side of romance.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart

  “Pierce reaches new heights in this titillating, spicy romance as she plays upon our wicked fantasies while crafting a fine-tuned tale of revenge and sizzling desire.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews

  “Barbara Pierce’s star continues to rise!”

  —Gaelen Foley, national bestselling author

  COURTING THE COUNTESS

  “Pierce carries off just-simmering-underneath sexual tension like a virtuoso and keeps readers wondering just how these two dynamic characters will get together. This splendid read shimmers with the temptation of seduction and the healing power of love.”

  —Romantic Times BOOKreviews

  “Pierce once again earns our appreciation for delighting us with her talent.”

  —Rendezvous

  “A good story line … a nice read.”

  —The Best Reviews

  “Impossible to p
ut down … [Pierce is] a truly exceptional storyteller.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart

  TEMPTING THE HEIRESS

  “Pierce does an excellent job blending danger and intrigue into the plot of her latest love story. Readers who like their Regency historicals a bit darker and spiked with realistic grit will love this wickedly sexy romance.”

  —Booklist

  “Masterful storyteller Barbara Pierce pens captivating romances that are not to be missed!”

  —Lorraine Heath, USA Today bestselling author of Love with a Scandalous Lord

  “I love everything about this book. The characters are like friends you cheer for, and the story draws you in so closely you will dream about it.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart

  “Tempting the Heiress is the latest entry in the Bedegrayne family series and it is an excellent one. Known for the complexity of her characters, Barbara Pierce doesn’t disappoint in this aspect of Tempting the Heiress … I should warn new readers to the Bedegrayne series that they will find themselves eagerly glomming the previous three novels in the series. Highly recommended!”