A Regency Invitation to the House Party of the Season Read Online Free PDF Page A

know you are the fortune hunter!’

Chapter Two
    I know you are the fortune hunter…
    Cassie watched as Peter Quinlan folded his magazine and put it aside before getting to his feet and coming across the room towards her. She had not intended her words to be quite so abrupt, and as he drew closer she felt a definite shiver of apprehension. The man’s physical presence was almost tangible: powerful, authoritative and devastatingly male. She had sensed the same sureness and confidence in other men that she admired—her cousins John, Anthony and Marcus—but they had always treated her as a little sister and she had seen them very much in a fraternal role. Now she discovered it was an entirely different experience to be the sole focus of the attention of a man like this. It made her feel quite dizzy. She shifted back against the sofa cushions.
    ‘Yes,’ Peter Quinlan said, holding her gaze, ‘I am the fortune hunter.’
    Their eyes locked. Cassie bit her lip. She had not expected him to be so honest. She had thought that he would be like every other man who had ever paid court to her fortune whilst pretending that he would love andhonour her forever. She was not sure whether his frankness made her feel better—or more alone.
    Peter smiled at her. The smile softened the uncompromising lines of his face and reached those dark blue eyes, making them warm. Cassie felt that heat sweep through her from her toes to her suddenly pink cheeks. She prayed that it was the effect of the brandy and not the effect of the Viscount’s proximity. She was prey to various contradictory feelings, but most noticeable was a curious excitement that was sending her blood tingling through her veins and giving the flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach. It was not like her to feel so giddy.
    She remembered how she had felt in that moment on the track, when instinct had told her that this was the man she had been waiting for, and not merely to frighten him away with her wayward behaviour. Instinct was sweet and persuasive, but it was notoriously unreliable in Cassie’s experience. It was instinct that had told her to accompany Miss Crabbe to the radical meeting when she was seventeen because she had thought it would be interesting. It was instinct that had led her astray before.
    ‘So, you admit you are a fortune hunter,’ she said slowly. ‘I thought that you would dissemble. Most men do.’
    Peter sat down beside her on the sofa and took one of her hands in his. It did not seem like an impertinence. On the contrary, it seemed warm and intimate and entirely the right thing to do. Cassie blinked, wondering if the brandy had seriously impaired her judgement.
    ‘I would never be dishonest with you, Cassandra,’ Peter said, and Cassie’s heart did an odd little flip, both at his use of her name and the intimacy of his tone. ‘I cannot deny that I came to Lyndhurst Chase seeking awealthy bride, but—’ he smiled again and Cassie’s blood fizzed ‘—I am very glad that I have found it in you.’
    His hand was stroking her fingers gently now and the touch was soothing and yet so distracting that Cassie’s head spun. She tried to remember the Viscount’s reputation. These must be the practised compliments of an experienced seducer. She should not lower her guard. She put one hand to her head. It ached slightly from the effects of the cordial and the heat of the room.
    ‘It is most unfortunate that we should meet when I am not feeling quite the thing,’ she complained, ‘for I am certain to be a great deal less civil to you than had we met under other circumstances, sir.’
    Peter smiled again. ‘I think it important that we are both honest,’ he said, ‘so please do not be concerned for my sensibilities. What is it that you wish to say to me, Cassie?’
    Again he said her name like a caress. It had never sounded like that on anyone else’s lips. Cassie took a deep breath as she tried to remember just what it was she had intended