Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas

Lottie in a gentle way, and soothe her fears before she had a chance to fly into a panic. Now Westcliff had fouled things up considerably, and Lottie was understandably hostile.
    She turned to him, her face pale, her eyes reddened from her tears. Her expression was composed, however, and she looked at him with unsettling intensity, as if she were trying to see inside his mind. Her searching gaze made him feel oddly threatened.
    “Was it all an act?” she asked quietly.
    Nick blinked. He, who had endured countless hours of scrutiny and interrogation and even torture, was completely thrown off by the question.
    “I know that some of it was,” Lottie said. “It was part of your job to gain my trust. But you went quitea bit farther than necessary.” She approached him with hypnotic slowness. “Why did you say those things to me tonight?”
    God help him, he couldn’t answer. Worse, he couldn’t look away from her, and she seemed to be staring through his eyes into his soul.
    “The truth, Mr. Gentry,” she insisted. “If I can bring myself to ask, surely you can bring yourself to answer. Did you mean any of it?”
    Nick felt a light sweat break out on his face. He tried to close her away, to deny her, but it was impossible. “Yes,” he said hoarsely and clamped his mouth shut. The devil take her if she wanted him to say anything more than that.
    For some reason, the admission seemed to make Lottie relax. Nick couldn’t begin to imagine why. Finally managing to rip his gaze away from hers, he stared blindly into the dancing firelight. “Now,” he muttered, “perhaps you can explain what the third option is.”
    “I need protection from Lord Radnor,” she said bluntly. “Few men would be able to hold their own against him. I believe that you could.”
    The statement was matter-of-fact…there was nothing complimentary in her tone. Nevertheless, Nick felt a flicker of masculine pride that she recognized his abilities.
    “Yes, I could,” he said evenly.
    “Then in return for your protection and financil support, I would be willing to be your mistress. Iwould sign a legally binding contract to that effect. I think that would be enough to keep Lord Radnor at bay—and then I would no longer have to stay in hiding.”
    His mistress. Nick had never anticipated that she would be willing to lower herself that way. However, it seemed that Lottie was ultimately a pragmatist, recognizing when she could not afford to keep her principles.
    “You’ll let me bed you in return for my money and protection,” he said, as if the word mistress required definition. He threw a cautious glance at her. “You will live with me, and accompany me in public, regardless of the shame it causes you. Is that what you’re saying?”
    Her cheeks turned bright red, but she did not look away from him. “Yes.”
    Desire flooded every part of his body with primal heat. The realization that he was going to have her, that she would give herself to him willingly, made him light-headed. His mistress…but that wasn’t enough. He needed more of her. All of her.
    Deliberately he went to the settee, a somewhat utilitarian piece upholstered in stiff burgundy leather, and he sat with his legs spread. He let his gaze travel over her with pure sexual appraisal. “Before I agree to anything, I want a sample of what you’re offering.”
    She stiffened. “I think you’ve sampled quite enough already.”
    “You’re referring to our interlude in the woodsthis evening?” He made his voice very soft, while his heart pounded violently in his chest. “That was nothing, Lottie. I want more than a few innocent kisses from you. Keeping a mistress can be an expensive proposition—you’ll have to prove that you’re worth it.”
    She came to him slowly, her slim form silhouetted in the firelight. Clearly she knew that he was playing some kind of game with her, but she hadn’t yet realized what the stakes were. “What do you want from me?” she asked