A Season of Ruin Read Online Free PDF

London. Robyn had been standing by when these fashionable young ladies were introduced to Lily and Delia.
    â€œOh, yes,” one of them had said, looking down her long nose at the two sisters. “I believe I recall the name
Somerset
. Your mother was quite famous when she debuted, wasn’t she?”
    â€œInfamous, you mean,” the other young lady put in with a smirk.
    Millicent Somerset, or Millicent Chase as she’d been known before her marriage, had been a famous jilt. The
ton
still spat shards of glass over Millicent Chase’s story, for she’d been one of their own, and she’d betrayed them all by marrying some nobody without family or fortune, and then she’d had the gall to move to the country, bear five beautiful daughters, and live in a state of unrepentant happiness until her sudden death a year ago.
    Delia had looked the first young lady right in the eye. “It’s odd, isn’t it, Lily, how often London visitors make that very same comment? I can’t account for it, unless every lady in London stands around the same ballroom night after night, exchanging the same vicious gossip.”
    Delia had drawn breath to deliver another scathing set-down, and he’d been wild with impatience to hear what she’d say next, but then Lily had laid a hand on her sister’s shoulder, and Delia had fallen silent. Lily herself hadn’t said one word, and not a flicker of emotion had crossed her face. Ifhe hadn’t known otherwise, Robyn would have believed she hadn’t heard the sarcastic comment at all.
    He’d been fascinated with Delia after that. Briefly anyway. His infatuations never lasted long. He’d spent the better part of his mother’s recent house party at Bellwood sniffing after Delia like a hound on a fresh scent, but he’d lost interest even before they all returned to London.
    Just as well, too, since Delia had married his brother, Alec, six weeks ago, at the start of the London season, and not a moment too soon. More than one high-minded dowager would be counting the weeks between the wedding and the birth the minute their child arrived.
    As for Lily, he’d dismissed her out of hand. He liked women with spirit, and he’d concluded from this episode that she hadn’t any. Even worse, she was a scold.
    Had that been it? Or had Delia simply been wearing the lower-cut gown of the two of them? He was a man, after all, and not a terribly complicated one.
    Perhaps he’d been a bit hasty in his determinations. Lily kept it well hidden under that prim exterior, but she did have spirit, and it took only a few stolen kisses and one finger to a breast to unleash it in full force. His cheek still smarted.
    Not that it mattered. Spirit or no spirit, the rules were clear. Robyn didn’t generally bother with rules, but debauching his sister-in-law was a bit much even for him. It would be more than a bit much for Alec, who’d strangle Robyn with his own cravat if he found out Robyn had laid a finger on Delia’s sister.
    It was quite simple, really.
Don’t touch Lily.
    If he wasn’t permitted to touch her, then . . . “We’d better return to the drawing room. Charlotte and Eleanor will be looking for you.”
    Lily gave him a meaningful glance. When he failed to move, she made a twirling gesture with her fingers to indicatehe should turn around. “Yes, very well. But I need a moment first.”
    â€œWhatever for?”
    A blush stained her cheeks. “I can’t go back to the drawing room looking like
this
.”
    The fragile neckline of the gown, low-cut to begin with, had succumbed to the struggle with him. He supposed he couldn’t let her skip back into the drawing room looking like
that
—as if she’d just been kissed and then tumbled in a meadow of warm grass and daisies.
    â€œOf course.” Robyn tried not to devour the sight of her bosom and failed miserably. When