Cara Elliott [Lords of Midnig Too Wicked to Wed (epub)

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.“Lud, what I wouldn’t give for a rousing gallop across the moors.”“I know how you feel.” Still in the throes of sowing his wild oats, he had narrowly escaped being sent down from Oxford for a schoolboy prank.“Pater has felt obliged to tighten the leash—and the purse strings—of late and it’s deucedly annoying to feel…”“As if you can’t breathe?” she suggested.“Ha!” A note of bitterness crept into her voice.“At least you do not have to submit to a corset and endless evenings of dull dances and prosy bores.”A mischievous gleam came to his eye.“Want to cut loose for an evening?”Alexa knew the sensible response was a firm “no.” She had not needed Sebastian’s words of warning to know that in London, the slightest breach of etiquette could result in a ruined reputation.But then, a small voice spoke up in the back of her head.To hell with the rules.Why could she not enjoy one night free from the fetters of everyone’s expectations?“What do you have in mind?”Henry grinned.“There is to be a soiree of music and gaming given by a certain lady whose existence is not acknowledged by the ton.Having been a guest at her previous gatherings, I can vouch for it being a great deal more lively than your usual entertainments.”“It does sound like great fun.” Though sorely tempted, Alexa allowed common sense to reassert itself.“But if you are planning to attend, the odds are that other gentlemen of our acquaintance will be there as well.There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that my presence would go unnoticed.Or unmentioned.” She heaved a sigh.“Your conduct would be deemed youthful exuberance, while mine would be deemed an utter disgrace.”Henry’s grin grew even wider.“Not if you, too, were to appear as a man.”Alexa blinked.“You’re joking!”“You have pulled it off before.Remember the time you dressed as a groom and came with us to the mill between Belcher and the challenger from Liverpool?”Henry was right.It would not be the first time she had donned breeches and boots to accompany him to a gathering forbidden to females of her social standing.Yet going unremarked amid a frenzied throng of well-lubricated spectators screaming for blood was one thing.Masquerading as a gentleman at a Town soiree was quite another.“There will not be nearly the distractions,” she pointed out.“The disguise would have to be awfully good.”“I have a friend who is quite skilled in amateur theatrics,” said Henry.“I’m sure he can fashion a convincing rig.”“I couldn’t…I shouldn’t…”“Come, the risk is not so very great,” urged Henry.“The rooms will be dimly lit, and the other guests will be foxed.”Alexa bit at her lower lip.Her cousin then played his trump card.“You have always said that you wanted to test your skills against serious gamesters.Well, the card room will offer some very interesting opportunities for play.”Did she dare stake her reputation on one night of hijinks?In managing the estate, she had always been prudent, carefully assessing the risks before making a decision.And she had always erred on the side of caution.Now, with her own future in the balance, Alexa decided to throw caution to the wind.“Very well—I’ll do it.”“Ha! I knew you would come around!” Henry gave a whoop of delight.“I promise you, this will be a great lark.Who knows—with your nerve and your knack for numbers, you may even end up winning a hefty amount of pin money.”“Ha!” she echoed, though in her voice the boyish enthusiasm was tempered by an edge of pragmatism.“Sometimes it takes more than nerve and skill to win.”“Right.” Plucking the ebony queen from the checkered board, he tossed it up and watched it turn a slow, spinning somersault before catching it in midair.“Sometimes it takes a dash of luck.But you, my dear cuz, have always been a lucky lady.”The numbers were proving perversely difficult to add up.Connor looked up from the ledgers, admitting that the difficulty lay not with the neatly penned expenses but with his own wandering concentration.He wished he might claim it was all on account of his sudden financial setbacks.However, as the figure in his mind’s eye began to take a completely different set of curves than the ones on the page, he was forced to set the book aside.Hell, he had not been aware that Lady Alexa Hendrie had returned to London.That in itself should not be very surprising, seeing as he paid little heed to the everyday gossip of the ton.Yet he had experienced the oddest sensation the other night on seeing her sitting in the shadows.For an instant, the jolt of awareness was almost as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.More likely, he ought to be struck by a punch to the jaw!The earl shook his head.Normally he would need no such overt reminder that a gentleman of his reputation was expected to stay well away from innocent young ladies.Sebastian Hendrie had not minced words in saying as much several months ago.Not that Connor blamed him.What conscientious brother would allow a notorious womanizer near his sister? But unlike many of the rakes who roamed in his part of Town, Connor had absolutely no interest in the pursuit of such prey.Despite the widespread opinion of Society, he was not lost to all notion of honor.And besides, dewy-eyed inexperience in the ways of world bored him to perdition.So why had he kissed her again? Only a fool made the same mistake twice.He had enough down-to-earth problems without allowing quirks of fancy to take flight.Connor traced the contour of his lower lip with his tongue.It was not the lingering traces of Scotch whisky and Virginia tobacco he tasted, but the tingling memory of her pliant mouth.Still, he could not quite shake the thought of Alexa Hendrie from his head.Even seated in obscurity, she radiated a unique vitality, her strong, sun-dappled features giving her an aura of individuality among all the bland beauty.Even more intriguing was the spark of her sapphire eyes, hinting at an inner fire.The rakehell Irish Wolfhound undone by a stolen kiss?Damn.Connor had lost count of how many women he had kissed.Of all of them, Alexa Hendrie should not be very memorable.And yet she was.Maddeningly so.Beguilingly so.He could recall in exquisite detail the shocked shiver of her lips, their initial resistance slowly softening, and the cry of outrage turning to a whispery sigh.Against his will, he found himself thinking back to their first encounter, and how, for a fleeting interlude, she had opened herself to his intimacies.As if she somehow trusted him, though he had her pinned up against a wall, his body thrust ruthlessly up against hers.The tentative touch of her fingers twined in his hair, the shy flick of her tongue, the hesitant arch of her back—such innocence should have warned him to pull away.He had meant to teach her a lesson about the perils that lurked in London if a young lady was too bold in bending the rules.Instead, in a moment of madness, he had forgotten all about rules [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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