All I Want for Christmas...is you Read Online Free PDF Page B

left
the door wide open, the noise jarred and invaded, shattered the
enchantment and intimacy.
    One of the chaps was saying something to him,
the other trying to turn them all around, whilst the intoxicated
Lady seemed oblivious and laughingly played between them.
    Lucas turned and collected his coat, sliding
it on before picking up Verena’s gloves and touching her arm,
keeping his back to the rude group while he watched her pull them
on.
    Her fingers fumbled, trembled. He felt like
tossing all three misfits out the door on their arses. He could not
bloody believe that he had been robbed of a moment he’d hungered
forever for.
    Tucking her hand on his arm, he guided her
around the room, opposite the group, who glanced at him then
shrugged and flopped down on the seating.
    Out in the ballroom, the roar of noise was
even more glaring and nerve wracking. Particularly since he felt as
if his skin would burst and could tell she was breathing deep and
calm, trying to perfect the composure she was known for.
    Lucas ignored anyone looking at them as he
led her some distance, finding a bit of space by those pillars,
although still having to lean down and speak near her ear to be
heard and be discreet.
    “Shall I return you to the duchess or seek
your brother for you?”
    She turned her head to husk near his ear, “I
shall be fine and make my way myself. Please, you must join the men
at cards as usual. I do not think the duchess will stay much longer
in any case, her bones ache and the crowd gets too much for her.
Please tell Bram I will get a lift home with her, and see him
later.”
    Lucas nodded though held her gaze as he
lifted his head. He conveyed the message that he would rather be
back in that sitting room with her, rather be kissing her, which
was plain since his gaze did flicker to her mouth. He discreetly
found her hand and held it for a few moments before releasing it
and heading off toward the card rooms.
     
    * * * *
     
    When he had gone, Verena braved the mass of
bodies to reach the duchesses side. She caught the hand signal that
the woman wished to leave and helped her up, saying loudly in her
ear that she would be leaving too, and join her. The older woman
smiled and then winced as she took a few steps.
    Realizing she’d have to clear the way for
them both, Verena cast a last look over her shoulder as she took
the woman’s arm, seeking and finding that tall and dark hared man
standing just in the doorway.
    She nodded and turned to continue her way
before checking if he nodded back. The frustrating trek served to
calm the turmoil in her body and ease some of the heat in her
blood.
    Still later as the duchess’s coachman was
taking her home, after dropping off his mistress, she lifted the
window flap and felt the chilly air and kiss of snow, which was
gathering and tumbling down from a dark sky. Rena remembered every
word, every second, every feel of him, from his strong hand to the
shift of his powerful legs when they moved. She remembered his
wintry scent of mint and brandy, and the warmth of his hard chest
against the tips of her breasts. The deep thud of his heart.
    She closed her eyes imagining perfectly the
deepened violet of his eyes when he had been inches from kissing
her.
    “Please, please…” She lifted her lashes and
whispered in the empty coach, “Let this happen for me. Give me this
one Christmas wish.” She dropped the flap and leaned her head back,
not stirring until the driver stopped and the footman opened the
door. As she smiled politely and nodded to Bram’s servants,
Verena’s mind was chanting repeatedly, let us see each other
again—soon, very soon.

Chapter Three
    Lucas awoke late and took breakfast in his
sitting room, having come home in the wee hours of the morning. He
had indeed joined the viscount and Jerome at cards, but his game
was off, his concentration wrecked, and after losing a large sum.
Which Jerome benefited from, he left with the pair to go a less
fashionable