An Unexpected Gentleman Read Online Free PDF

over a flower. Just as she thought one was settled, another buzzed it aside. She tried to work up a proper fret over this new dilemma but couldn’t concentrate long enough to see it done.
    She blew out a short breath and slumped back in her seat. “I can’t see him like this.”
    “Sir Robert? Why not? You’re tipsy, not inebriated.”
    “He doesn’t approve of spirits.”
    There was a short pause before he spoke. “You must be joking.”
    She bobbed her head, realized that didn’t make any sense, and shook it instead. “No. I am in earnest. He doesn’t believe a lady should partake and is most adamant on the subject.”
    “The man’s a hypocrite. He’ll be three sheets to the wind before two. I wager he’s already a sheet and a half there.”
    “A sheet and a half?” She laughed at the saying but didn’t believe it to be true of Sir Robert. Oh, he enjoyed his wine, and she’d smelled spirits on him a time or two, but she’d never seen him lose his head. Not the way her brother did when he overindulged. She shook her head to dislodge the thought. She didn’t want to think of her brother now. Or Sir Robert for that matter. She felt a little silly, a little reckless. She wanted to enjoy the sensations.
    She leaned toward Connor and smiled at him. “And what am I?”
    “Slightly foxed,” he reminded her.
    “Yes, but in keeping with the theme of sheets . . .” she prompted.
    “Ah.” He smiled back, that lovely, lovely smile she was certain she could stare at all evening. “You’re embroidery.”
    She straightened. “That’s not linen.”
    “But it’s to be found on linen. It decorates. It adds value. It gives life to the tired and bland.” He reached up and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “It makes the everyday extraordinary.”
    The warmth of his fingers sent a pleasant shiver along her skin.
    “I think perhaps we’ve gone off topic,” she whispered.
    “Just on to one that makes you uncomfortable.” His lips curved with amusement as he let his hand fall from her cheek. “Doesn’t Sir Robert pay you compliments?”
    “Yes.” She wondered if it would be unforgivably forward if she asked him to return his hand.
    “Tell me what he’s said.”
    Connor’s steady gaze and smile made it difficult to think. It took her several moments to come up with an example. “He has told me I have lovely eyes.”
    “They’re passable. What else?”
    “Passable?”
    Humor danced in his eyes. “What else?”
    Defensive now, she scowled at him. “He compared the color of my cheeks to rose petals.”
    “Fairly unoriginal of him. What else?”
    She folded her arms over her chest. “I’m clever.”
    So help her God, if he contradicted that . . .
    His lips twitched. “I believe you just made that up.”
    “I did not.” She had made up the bit about her cheeks and the roses, though. “I bested Lady Penwright yesterday at a game of chess. Sir Robert was suitably impressed.”
    It was very nearly impossible to lose to Lady Penwright in a game of anything, but as Lady Penwright had never made mention of a Mr. Brice—and the lady did so like to make mention of handsome gentlemen—Adelaide felt it safe to assume Connor was familiar with neither the lady nor her lack of gaming skills.
    Apparently, Connor wasn’t concerned with either.
    “He doesn’t deserve you.”
    She blinked at the non sequitur. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Sir Robert doesn’t deserve you.” He spoke quietly but clearly. The humor was gone from his features, replaced by an intensity she found alarming.
    She stood and walked a few feet away, though whether she was trying to distance herself from him or from what he said, she couldn’t tell. “A half hour’s acquaintance is not a sufficient amount of time to make a judgment—”
    “Uninspired flattery,” he cut in. “A gentleman much dressed. A man afraid to travel. Disapproves—”
    “I never said he was afraid.”
    “You don’t want him,” he said