Frovtunes’ Kiss Read Online Free PDF

snare, his grip tightened and trapped her fast.
    â€œYou know, Miss Houser, you still have me at a distinct disadvantage.” His fingertip stroked her knuckles beneath her lace glove, sending her pulse for a gallop. “You have full view of my features while yours remain hidden beneath that mysterious mask of yours. Won’t you remove it so we might become properly acquainted?”
    With a jolt of alarm, she pulled free. “I think not, my lord, for were I to remove my mask, my coif would fall to shambles.” Turning to prove her point, she allowed him to see where the silken ribbons twined into her coiled hair and helped hold her veil in place.
    A colossal mistake on her part. He eased closer, his solid chest radiating heat against the thin silk covering her back. His hand slipped beneath her veil and descended on her nape with a whisper’s touch that made her skin sizzle. “You are correct, Miss Houser, this is quite an entanglement. You may never free yourself of it.”
    At the sound of his throaty chuckle, she whirled, only to find her back tucked against the trellis. Delicate tendrils of honeysuckle curled about her shoulders while its heavy perfume blanketed her senses.
    â€œHere, my lord.” She thrust her glass at him. “I’ve discovered I have no taste for champagne after all. I must go.”
    A nimble side step blocked her escape. “Have I offended you, Miss Houser? Please forgive me. I’ve been away many years, so long I am now a foreigner in my own country. It would seem I’ve become woefully ignorant of English manners and customs. To be frank, I feel out of place at affairs such as these, and when I saw you walking alone…well, I thought perhaps I’d encountered a kindred spirit.”
    He raised her glass and drank from it, from the place that still held the moisture of her lips. As his gaze held her, the air around her thickened and warmed. Her mouth tingled as if his lips had touched her and not the glass; an achy sensation gathered deep inside.
    â€œTh-there is nothing to forgive, my lord,” she assured him, and shook her head to clear it. The past moments had quite convinced her she would never glean a bit of useful information from him, not here beneath the dark and fragrant arbor; not with those laughing blue eyes making her forget everything she’d planned to say to coax the truth from him.
    â€œIf you’ll excuse me, my lord, I—”
    â€œWon’t you call me Graham? I cringe at the sound of ‘my lord.’ “
    â€œCertainly not.”
    â€œNo?” He touched a fingertip to the underside of her chin, sending a mortifying blaze of heat to her cheeks. “I suppose it will have to be Foster then, won’t it? For I simply will not abide ‘my lord.’ “
    How dare he belittle the title borne with such dignity by both her stepfather and Nigel? She clenched her fists in the folds of her gown. “Mr. Foster, I must bid you good evening. I did not attend alone, you see. I was escorted by…my brother, and I’m afraid he’ll be searching for me.”
    â€œBrother. Blazing hell.” His groan dissipated into the honeysuckle. “I’d forgotten. I’m supposed to be searching for a brother myself. We’ll have to excuse each other then, Miss Houser.”
    He lifted her hand to his lips. When she thought he would release her, he didn’t, but contemplated her glove with a vague frown. She had sold all her full-length evening gloves and had to make due with these lace mitts. Now her wrist felt naked and vulnerable beneath his scrutiny.
    Gently he turned her palm upward. Bending his head, he pressed his open lips to her pulse, just beyond the edge of her glove. And then…great good heavens…she felt the moist graze of his tongue against her flesh, leaving a trail of fire that burned all through her, straight down to the tips of her toes. Her knees wobbled,