Francesca Read Online Free PDF

staring at her, wearing a sardonic smile now. She would not look again. He might mistake it for encouragement. Yet she was aware, without quite seeing him, that the black vulture never moved a muscle. At the end of the dance her nerves were stretched taut. She risked one last peek, and for a moment she breathed easy. He was gone.
    Then she saw him working his way through the crowd straight toward her, and her blood chilled to ice. She turned to grab Selby’s arm, but he had moved away. Her whole set were moving toward the refreshment parlor, but Francesca’s legs seemed incapable of motion, and still he kept advancing. Within seconds he was at her side, bowing suavely.
    “Good evening, Mrs. Wilson. We meet again.”The words sounded like a challenge, and the sparkle in his eyes confirmed his mood.
    There hardly seemed any point pretending, but she lifted her chin and said in a breathless voice that wouldn’t fool a child, “I beg your pardon? Are you speaking to me, sir?”
    He gave her a quizzing smile and glanced around the immediate area, which was bereft of other guests. “It looks like it, doesn’t it? I am not flattered that you have forgotten me so soon, Mrs. Wilson. But then, I have been forewarned your memory is faulty. You forgot to return from the ladies’room the other evening.”
    “I can’t imagine what you are talking about. I have never been inside the Pantheon in my life.”
    His smile stretched to a grin. “Why should you imagine I was speaking of the Pantheon?”he asked. A gasp of annoyance escaped her lips. “Come now, prevarication is pointless after that blunder, ma’am. The cat is out of the bag. You are you, and I am me. No hard feelings, but I do think you owe me an explanation.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”she insisted, and turned bright pink.
    “I take leave to inform you, Mrs. Wilson, that you are a wretched liar. Your explanation was highly unsatisfactory, but if you will bolster it up with a waltz, I shall accept it.”
    The carved emerald on his finger glowed from the overhead chandeliers as his hand came out and fell on her arm. His grip felt like a manacle. Francesca looked up into his dark eyes, with that slash of brows lending him the air of a satyr.
    Good God, she’s frightened of me! Devane stared a moment, wondering if it was an act. But there was no air of coyness or teasing in her strained, pale face. His harsh features softened to a smile, and when he spoke, his voice was gentle, not the gentle silken menace she had heard before, but a warm gentleness. “I don’t bite, you know. And I am considered a fair dancer. One dance, and if you aren’t charmed by my nimble-footed Terpsichorean prowess, I’ll let you go—most reluctantly.”
    He watched as she drew her bottom lip between her teeth, then slowly released it. “Well, one dance, then,”she said, and smiled shyly.
    “Unless you are charmed by my footwork, in which case I shall certainly be back to pester you for another waltz. You must not judge my performance by that free-for-all at the Pantheon.”
    “What makes you think it will be a waltz?”
    “I have arranged it.”
    “You never left that wall. I saw you, staring at me, through your quizzing glass. I don’t know why gentlemen employ them.”
    “The better to see you, my dear. I sent a footboy to the orchestra with a half crown. I begrudge no expense or trouble when I am—interested in a lady, you see.”
    She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and noticed Devane was peering at her patch. She was sorry she had not removed it. It seemed, suddenly, shoddy. Devane was not so stiff as she had feared, however, and she decided the easiest way out of this situation was to give him one dance and make a joke of the other evening. “A whole half crown. My, you are reckless, Lord Devane.”
    “Oh, you’ve cost me a good deal more than that already, and we haven’t even—waltzed. I have had my spies out, trying to discover