Her Reluctant Viscount (Rakes and Rogues) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had been served, she took a small sip of her tea. The warm brew slid easily down her throat. Tryst sat, ate two sandwiches, and toyed with his drink.
     
    Trystan sat. “Which sketch is missing from your book?”
     
    She frowned. “What?”
     
    “The only thing he took was your sketch book. They say it has been returned to you. However, there was a page missing. So I will ask again. What drawing is missing?” She hesitated and he drank his whisky in one gulp. “You had no clue.” It was not a question.
     
    She shook her head, not even sure she wanted to know how it was he knew so much about what went on in her business. “I never looked. When I got it back, I was just relieved to have it returned to me. How did you know a page was—”
     
    “Get it.”
     
    Her hope at figuring out what was going on overrode her distaste at following his order. She rose and hastened from the room, retrieved the requested item from her desk, and returned to where he waited. The sandwiches were gone and he eyed the one on her plate, hungrily. However, he rose immediately to stand beside her as he flipped through the book.
     
    “Here.” He shoved the pad at her. “What was on this page?”
     
    Biting back her anger at having her privacy violated, she took the book and looked at the drawings before and after it. Why this page? She did not argue when he reclaimed the pad, just continued to try and figure it out.
     
    “Well?”
     
    “Let me think,” she snapped. Jo walked to the window and stared out again. The rain continued to fall in heavy sheets. “I had a flower, a cat, a tree, and an odd design I had seen. Something I’d seen at the museum. Maybe he was angry I looked at him.”
     
    “What design? Can you recreate it?”
     
    “Of course.” She was offended.
     
    “Draw it for me.”
     
    She exhaled heavily and touched the windowpane, trailing a falling droplet. “No.”
     
    Jo watched his reflection. He paused and frowned, the action causing his brows to converge. “No?”
     
    She turned partially toward him and perched on the cream cushion. “That was what I said. You want me to recreate it, maybe you should ask instead of trying to order me around.”
     
    With a grunt, he shoved his hand through his hair. Closing the rest of the distance, he dropped the sketchbook beside her in the window seat.
     
    “Someone is after you.”
     
    “Really?” she drolled. “I had not noticed. Sorry to disappoint you, Trystan but I have faced people being after me before.”
     
    “Listen to me. This is no time to be foolish.”
     
    He thought her foolish. Like a little girl. She shoved to her feet and got in his space. Glaring at him, she stabbed her finger into his chest.
     
    “Just because I am a woman does not make me foolish.”
     
    Tryst grabbed her wrist and she found it hard to breathe. His hand was callused and sent tremors throughout her entire being. The vibe in the room changed. No longer was the issue from an outside source. This was all about her. Him. And the passion between them.
     
    His blue eyes darkened and she watched his jaw clench, the scar along it paling against the tan of his skin. Craving his touch, she waited to see what he would do. Time passed as they stared at one another, thunder in the background adding to the intensity. Her hopes for another kiss faded as his gaze cooled.
     
    “Really? You seem foolish right now. Touching me, alone in a room with me.”
     
    Her nose flared slightly at his words. “You were the one who barged in. Not me. Besides I am not afraid of you, Trystan Wilkes.” Of her feelings for him? Yes. He did not need to know that. Even if he did, she did not intend to share it with him.
     
    “You should be.” He spoke with an assured drawl.
     
    “No reason to be.” She tried to grab her hand back. He refused her silent request.
     
    “And why is that?” He tugged her closer. “Expect your footman, Davy, to save you?”
     
    She gave him an over