His Dark Enchantress (Books We Love Regency Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

at all costs.
    If only Juliana could have been at home this morning. If only she had not been obliged to give her direction to Lord Clifton.
    She got to her feet and went to the window, concealing herself in the folds of the long drapes. She watched Lucius get into the carriage, trying to unscramble her thoughts and remember what Juliana had told her of him.
    He gambled heavily on horses and at cards.
    A renowned whip and horseman.
    An expert with sword and pistol.
    He engaged one mistress after another.
    “And when he is done with them,” Juliana told her, “he sends them earrings set with their favourite precious stones. Were it I, I would throw them at his head.”
    Juliana’s description made him sound thoroughly unscrupulous. Yet how could he be? He had been polite and concerned for her. It was obvious he and Juliana had a close relationship. And he was sharp, much sharper than Juliana had ever led her to believe.
    She had noticed him watching her, had tried to avoid his eyes, did not want him to see how dangerously attractive she found him.
    Now she had two secrets to keep.
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
    The vouchers for Almack’s arrived, sending Mrs. Babbidge into a flurry of activity. Everything at Montpelier Street revolved around Emmaline. Her great-aunt escorted her to modistes and milliners, to glove and shoe makers. They combed haberdashers for the right piece of lace and the perfect shade of ribbon, all to make sure that she shone on her first outing into the glittering society of the ton .
    A note from Lucius, requesting the pleasure of her company in joining him and his sister at the Assembly Rooms, came with the vouchers. His carriage would collect her at eight o’clock. Emmaline so hoped he would not be in it. She would rather not be obliged to thank him personally for something she did not want.
    In the comfortable stillness of her room she closed her eyes but it did no good. She heard her own breath catch in her throat as it had when she first saw Lucius . Her pulse beat a heavy tattoo sending her blood surging in her veins.
    It was not just his wide shoulders and broad chest, emphasised as they were by the close fit of his expertly tailored morning coat of blue superfine. Nor the sight of his firmly muscled horseman’s thighs encased in tight fitting buckskin breeches.
    It was the expression on his lean, angular face that caught her attention and startled her so. His fine grey eyes, so like Juliana’s, had caught and held hers. She did not want to look away but, as casually as she could, had done exactly that and replaced his book on the table.
    H er heart tumbled in a welter of emotion. Of all the men she could have met, why must she be so foolish as to allow herself to be so attracted to her best friend’s brother?
    She lifted her head and surveyed herself in the long cheval mirror. Her face was pale under her natural colouring. She turned her head sideways, tipped it up and down, squinting along her neat, straight nose and making a moue of her lightly rouged lips.
    Mrs. Babbidge insisted on dressing her hair, sweeping the heavy tresses up into an intricate crown of ringlets threaded through with a string of pearls. Large, single pearl drop earrings dangled from her ears, a treasured memento of her mother. She wore no other jewellery, instructed by her redoubtable great-aunt that she needed none.
    Emmaline ran her hands down the folds of her pale lavender silk gown. Its low cut neckline, which her great-aunt refused to trim with lace, distressed her for it revealed far more of her décolletage than she wished.
    The only covering allowed was her white evening gloves, which reached above her elbow, ending mere inches below her delicately puffed sleeves.
    Mrs. Babbidge, carrying a branch of candles, came into her room.
    “Oh, Em. You look lovely, so you do.” She put the candelabra on top of Emmaline’s dresser and stood behind her. “Your poor mama and papa would be so proud of you, just like me and