His For The Taking Read Online Free PDF

leave Surrey so quickly? Julianna was
but three and twenty. She was hardly a moldering gourd.
    "May I ask where Julianna and
Lady Chesterfield are?"
    Constance
lowered her gaze and smoothed the skirt of her turquoise gown. "I do not
know. But I do know they won't be back for a month, maybe two." She lifted
her chin, her attention fully on him, her gaze direct and filled with longing.
"So, you see, Lord Denbigh, I am your new neighbor and I would very much
like for you to join me for tea. Perhaps Mother knows where Miss Julianna
is."
    He lifted his brow and stared back
at her. At least her game was obvious. But if he were going to uncover
Julianna’s whereabouts, he'd have to play along. And when he found his friend he’d blast her for her treachery
and if she were with another man, he’d punch him in the nose for good measure.
    "All right. I would very much
enjoy a cup." Oh how he wished he had a flask of whiskey in his pocket.
For it had been his experience that Constance Whitcomb was more easily digested
with a bit of alcohol.
    ***
    "And they both fell off their
horses and into a large mud puddle!" Jane laughed, her freckled face
animated with her merriment.
    Bennett looked to Julianna from his
perch on the edge of a wing back chair, his eyes flashing with cheer.
"Indeed, we were both covered in mud. Needless to say, Miss Eliza Sinclair
didn't wish for me to dine with her that evening."
    "No!" Jane giggled, her
auburn curls bouncing around her pretty face as she enjoyed the joke. "In
fact, she never even asks me about you at all. You may as well have been buried
in that mud. For to her you are as good as dead." She leaned against Julianna
from her cushion on the settee, her lips to her ear as if they were long lost
friends. "And he wonders why he's still a bachelor."
    Bennett shrugged his shoulders.
"If you can't laugh at mishaps, you're destined to cry." He offered
Julianna a brilliant smile. He was indeed a handsome man. Dark curls, angular
features and green eyes that gazed upon her with such passion, her stomach
fluttered each time she looked at him. "Have you ever been coated in
mud?"
    "No," she said with a
grin. "I can't say that I've had that particular experience. But I did
once stumble into a creek and lost not only one of my favorite slippers but my
grandmother's silver comb."
    "Oh," Grandmother said,
lifting a glass of sherry to her lips. "That's what happened to that
comb!"
    Julianna frowned. "Really, you
knew I lost it. For you had Cook take a switch to my legs."
    Grandmother nodded. "Yes, but
only because I couldn't bear to hurt you myself."
    "I know," she admitted,
gazing down at the lace trim of her plum colored gown. "You have a tender
spot for me. That is certain and appreciated."
    "I can understand that
sentiment," Bennett said standing. "You are a gem to be sure."
    Heat shot to her cheeks and she
felt suddenly breathless. "Thank you, sir," she managed, taking in
his form as he moved toward the gray marbled fireplace. My, but he was a tall
man, his physique every bit as elegant as the black suit he wore. He stood
taller than Jonathan but where Jonathan's body was strong and sinewy, Bennett
was slender and graceful.
    Jonathan. Why could he not think
her a gem? And why did every road lead back to him?
    "I'm going to pop out into the
garden for a moment of fresh air. Jane? Julianna? Would you care to join
me?"
    Jane sprang up from the settee and
grabbed hold of Julianna's hand. "Yes, let's!"
    Julianna looked to Grandmother for
approval, a soft smile greeting her. "Enjoy the cool evening air and your
friends."
    "All right." She brushed
a kiss across Grandmother's forehead. "But I won't be long. I don't wish
to keep you out too late."
    "I'll be just fine,"
Grandmother said, shooing her away with a weathered hand. "Lady Nesbitt
and I have a lot to talk about."
    "Indeed," Lady Nesbitt
inserted, snapping open her fan and fanning her large, round face. "You
children run along and have a grand time."
    Bennett