For the Earl's Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rainewood had found interesting and infuriating about Miss Smart, a woman barely on the social gossip wagon. Mrs. Browning walked just as quickly as her mother, but with a much more militant manner.
    She was as good as a mouse crushed beneath a carriage wheel.
    Gregory’s eyes followed the group of men, deadly in intent, then he excused himself and walked away.
     

    Valerian emerged from the second hell that night. The ball had only made him antsy to do something else. Something that would distract him. Damn woman. Damn her . With her honey brown hair, blue eyes, strong features, and sharp tongue.
    He had snapped at a minimum of ten people who had tried to ask what the interaction with Miss Smart had been about.
    “Can’t believe we are down three hundred. Campbell would be in dire straits.”
    Valerian looked at Templing stumbling out next to him. They were down three hundred because Templing could barely stand up on his own. The man was a gambling twit when he was drunk.
    “Campbell needs to clean up his finances,” Valerian said dismissively. The state of their friend’s pocketbook was a boring one. Aidan Campbell bet too much and won too little. He was going to be in to Valerian for ten thousand pounds soon. He had bet against the list.
    Damn list. Damn woman. Damn friends.
    Valerian had no notion of calling in the bet, but he wasn’t going to let Campbell know it. The future viscount needed to learn sooner rather than later that he could only extend himself so far before there were dire consequences. Better that it be a lesson from which he could return, than from a shark lender on the east side.
    And Campbell needed to stop looking at Abigail Smart in the way that he had taken to doing. Valerian didn’t like the looks at all. They produced a bone-deep urge within him to pummel something. He would have to make it clear that Abigail Smart was off limits in every way.
    He had a lot of practice in doing so.
    “No way Campbell is going to manage it unless he hooks himself to an heiress,” Templing slurred. “In too deep. Heard he was seen with men from the east side.”
    The admission surprised Valerian, but his attention was focused on a man standing alongside the walk. Everything about the man screamed not to disturb him, which was fine with Valerian. The younger pups just out of school liked to play at walking on the wilder side of town—Valerian had done so not so long ago. But even though most of the more deadly elements refrained from attacking a member of the upper class—knowing the higher priced punishments such actions would bring—one always had to be on guard.
    That Campbell was indebted to someone from the east side was very bad. There were many who claimed dubious reputations and endless resources. Dangerous. Men who would collect on their money regardless of the means.
    His mind temporarily wandered as he thought of the multitude of reasons Campbell would be interested in Abigail. “Idiot.”
    Templing huffed to keep up, stumbling behind as he did. “Now, Raine, not everyone has—”
    The sound of a body hitting the ground behind him caused Valerian to sigh. The night was obviously over for Templing. Idiot. Valerian turned to help Templing and call for a hack. He felt like corralling a bottle of fine whiskey at home and brooding on blue eyes anyway.
    A swift movement, a flash of green. Pain exploded in Valerian’s head and all went dark.

Chapter 3

    M en’s trousers appeared much easier to unfasten these days than in the past.
    “Isn’t it simply delightful of what society is capable?”
    Abigail absently nodded to the flesh-and-blood man standing in front of her and watched the more interesting ghostly spectacle in the corner.
    An upstairs maid by the look of her thirty-years-old outdated clothing had wrapped herself quite indecently around a footman—pressing together so closely that the air between them nearly whooshed out in an audible breeze. The man hitched the maid higher on his