A Most Sinful Proposal Read Online Free PDF

inappropriate name for George’s brother. V alentine? The saint of lovers, of kisses and flowers and happy endings. It was quite ludicrous. He should be called something prosaic like Jack or Henry or—
    His deep voice interrupted her thoughts. “As a boy I longed for a simple manly name like Jack or Henry. You can imagine the bullying I endured at school.” He spoke matter-of-factly, but Marissa was sure she heard an undercurrent in his voice that spoke of painful memories. Did George’s brother have a sensitive side? And was his unhappy childhood the reason he’d channeled his intellect into the study of roses? Perhaps it had been wrong of her to force him into revealing his name like that, although she couldn’t regret it after what he’d said about George.
    Jasper launched into conversation, regaling Lady Bethany with the tale of a man named Admonition. But Marissa was only half listening. She was watching Valentine Kent.
    He was smoothing his cuffs, although they were so creased she didn’t know why he bothered. Didn’t he have a valet? Her gaze lifted to the tilt of his head and the dark sweep of his lashes, so long they were almost feminine, if one discounted the masculine cheek they brushed against. His nose was similar to George’s, but not nearly as straight. There was a bump in it, as if he’d broken it at some time. Fighting the bullies who teased him about his name? By the breadth of his shoulders she thought he was probably handy with his fists.
    Marissa’s gaze traveled down the length of his strong arms, coming to rest on his hands. They were large, like the rest of him, but with long fingers rather than the blunt and broad digits one might have expected. One might even call them artistic—surely that was the sign of a sensitive soul? The idea disturbed her. She felt unsettled, confused, and—more disturbingly—aroused.
    What would it feel like to have those fingers on her?
    As the shocking thought took hold, he looked up at her. Hastily she glanced away, but not before being startled once more by the amazing color of hiseyes. Indeed, looking into them had made her feel quite giddy.
    This was George’s brother, she reminded herself. He was nothing more to her than that. George was the one she was interested in. George was the one she intended to marry.
    “Who were you named for, Miss Rotherhild?” Valentine’s voice was soft, for her alone, and the husky quality of it sent an involuntary shiver down her spine.
    Marissa took her courage in both hands and forced herself to look up. He was closer than she’d expected, leaning toward her. There was a hint of a smile on his mouth, and suddenly she found it difficult to draw air into her lungs.
    “I’ve told you my secret; it is only fair you tell me yours,” he added, dropping his voice even further. That shiver rippled across her skin.
    The effect he was having on her was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. George made her laugh, but when she was with him she never felt like this. Intellectually, she didn’t know quite what to make of it.
    “I have no secrets,” she said sharply.
    He is George’s brother, she told herself firmly, and unimportant except for the connection he has to George. But that wasn’t true any longer. Something had changed. Suddenly she was conscious of him as a man in his own right, and a most attractive one.
    “No secrets at all?” he said, with that half smile that seemed to tease and admire her at the same time. “I find that difficult to believe, Miss Rotherhild. All women have secrets.”
    “Then I am a sad disappointment to my sex, my lord.”
    His astonishing eyes narrowed as his gaze slid over her. “You are far from a disappointment to me, Miss Rotherhild.”
    Was he flirting with her? Marissa thought. And why didn’t she put a stop to it immediately? Why was her heart beginning to beat faster with excitement, like a bolting horse, running?
    “You are only making me more curious, Miss