A Perfect Groom Read Online Free PDF Page B

you of our acquaintance?” He shook his head. “Why, I’ve known her since she was a child!”
    Georgiana seemed decidedly nervous. She glanced at Arabella, then back at him.
    Justin slanted a half-smile. “I do not bite,” he said lightly. “You have my undying promise to leave her in one piece.”
    “But of course, my lord.” Georgiana curtsied again and swept away.
    Justin transferred his gaze to Arabella. He bestowed on her the smile that invariably sent the ladies to swooning — all ladies but her, that is.
    Her consideration of him was surely destined to put the fires of hell to shame, he noted. Blithely he ignored it. “It has been a long time, has it not?”
    “Not long enough.” The words emerged from between gritted teeth.
    Still as charming as ever, he observed.
    “What do you want?” she said tersely.
    He feigned great affront. “Oh, come. Is that any way to greet an old friend?”
    His gaze ran over her. Gideon had been right. A conventional beauty she was not, but she had a mouth like sin and eyes the color of heaven. Christ, had he really told Gideon she sounded positively ghastly? Lord, he was the world’s biggest ass!
    Up close, she was even more breathtaking than from across the ballroom. Gone was the thin, gawky child whose carrot-red curls seemed to eclipse the whole of her being. Instead there stood a vibrantly sensual woman who wreaked havoc on his senses.
    The exposed skin of her shoulders glistened like porcelain. Affixed on a fine gold chain was a tiny sapphire that nestled in the velvet cleavage of her breasts. There were no feathers or pearls in her hair, no bracelets circling her wrists. He approved the costume for its very simplicity. In truth, she needed no other adornment to make her shine.
    And shine she did.
    His gaze, hot and avid, lingered on the tempting hollow between her breasts. A dark, swift heat seized hold of him as she took a breath. By God, he thought, every other woman in the room paled in her presence. She was ripe like a warm, sweet peach just waiting to be plucked.
    He dragged his gaze reluctantly to her face, only to find her blue eyes dark with outrage, the fullness of her mouth pursed into a tight little knot.
    He decided to remain at arm’s length for now. If he got any closer, she might well fasten her fingers around his neck.
    “Why are you looking at me like that?” she demanded.
    “I’m simply marveling at how you’ve grown. Why, you must surely stand eye-to-eye with many a man.”
    Arabella stiffened. She’d always hated her body. For as long as she could remember, she’d been a full head taller than every other girl she knew.
    But she didn’t stand eye-to-eye with Justin Sterling. Indeed, if she gazed straight ahead, her focus came to the very center of his mouth, now curved into a lazily wicked grin. And yet, it was rather nice, actually, to feel for once that she wasn’t a great behemoth.
    If only it were any other man but him!
    “Do not mock me,” she said curtly.
    He swept her his most courtly bow. “I do not mock you.” He shook his head. Again his gaze slid over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts beneath her bodice, an unmistakably simmering appraisal. “Ah, yes,” he murmured, “how you’ve changed!”
    Silently, Arabella consigned him to a fate most reprehensible. Aloud she snapped, “And I see you have not.” But in truth, he had. He was bigger, even taller than he’d been at eighteen. She’d noticed it right off. Beneath his jacket his chest was broad, his shoulders lean but wide. Broader than she recalled…
    The realization was downright disturbing.
    He stepped close. She resisted the urge to step back.
    “Do you know,” he went on, “when my friend Gideon made mention of The Unattainable, I was pricked by the oddest thought. Odd, that I should think of it that way, don’t you agree?” He sighed. “Ah, but I have such memories of you, Miss Templeton. Not fond, but memories just the same.”
    “Indeed?”