Beauty in Breeches Read Online Free PDF Page A

around a candle.’
    He tilted his eyebrows with amusement and leaned forwards so that only she might hear his words. ‘Many moths, but only one rare butterfly. Besides, I have never been partial to moths,’ he murmured, and Beatrice read in his face such evident desire that heat flamed for a moment in her cheeks. A curious sharp thrill ran through her as the force between them seemed to explode wordlessly, but she did not forget who he was or why she was here.
    He took a step back from her. ‘So, who have we here?’ he asked, regarding her down the length of his aristocratic nose. Her body was slender but rounded in all the right places and disturbing in its femininity. The swell of her hips was outlined softly beneath the soft folds of her gown and her breasts, exposed just enough above the low neckline, hinted at their firmshapeliness. He had not been so intrigued by a woman in a long time. ‘Will someone not introduce us?’
    Beatrice stiffened as his challenging and impertinent eyes sharpened and narrowed in amusement. And did his gaze actually linger on her breasts pushing their way up out of her bodice, or was it only her confused imagination that made it seem that way?
    With Henry Talbot by her side, Astrid glanced up at him shyly and said breathlessly, ‘Oh, this is Beatrice, my cousin, Lord Chadwick. She is quite mad about horses. Indeed, she can think and talk of nothing else from morning till night. It comes as no surprise that she is interested in taking you up on your wager.’
    Julius arched a brow, smiling. ‘Beatrice?’
    â€˜I am Beatrice Fanshaw,’ Beatrice provided, lifting her chin proudly and looking directly into his narrowed amber eyes. Her own were glowing with brilliance and fire, her gaze never wavering from his face as she awaited his reaction to her announcement.
    In a split second his smile was wiped clean from his face and his eyes were now sharp and penetrating with interest and something that resembled shock. The young lady who had so intrigued him a moment before had suddenly taken on a whole new identity. ‘Ah! Fanshaw! Of course. How very interesting. I do recall the name.’
    â€˜You should. My father was Sir James Fanshaw.’
    â€˜I remember your father. However, I was not aware that he had a daughter.’ Already nettled by her cool attitude, Julius delivered his reply with a small bowand an exaggerated show of disdain. ‘It is obvious you know who I am, Miss Fanshaw.’
    â€˜You are Julius Chadwick.’ Her words were firm and measured as she failed to address him with the courtesy of his title. ‘The same man who ruined my father.’
    â€˜And is that what all this is about? You are here to beg me to retrieve all that he lost?’
    Something welled up in Beatrice, a powerful surge of emotion to which she had no alternative but to give full rein. It was as if she had suddenly become someone else, someone bigger and much stronger than the woman who had joined the party. Her eyes flashed as cold fury drained her face of colour and added a steely edge to her voice.
    â€˜Those who know me know that I never beg, Lord Chadwick, and by my oath I intend to take more from you than an old man’s loss.’ Her promise was made with an icy, threatening calmness.
    Julius looked at her, his face a mask of indignation, but then he was so taken aback by her outburst that his superiority evaporated. He stared down at the lovely young woman whose fury turned her eyes to a darker green.
    â€˜Dear me, Miss Fanshaw. I can see I will have to watch my step.’
    â€˜More than that, my lord. You are the man directly responsible for my father’s death.’
    Her attack took him so completely by surprise that he looked startled for a moment and more than a little uneasy, then a hard gleam entered his eyes, for hisconscience was sore with the irony of trying to protect the reputation of his own undeserving father