I've Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm (The Lords of Worth) Read Online Free PDF Page B

had lost, of course, but he prayed that perhaps, in the darkest hour of the night, given enough drink or laudanum to blur his vision, he might mistake Lady Julia for Gisele. His Gisele. And that finally he would be able to reclaim the pleasure he had been denied for so long.

Chapter 4
    N ot two days in and Gisele already regretted choosing James Montcrief for the job.
    She wanted to blame Iain—her former partner—for creating the vacancy in the first place. She would never have needed Montcrief at all if Iain, bless his love-besotted heart, hadn’t abandoned their cause in favor of taking a wife. He was undoubtedly married by now, holed up in a tiny Scottish hamlet somewhere in front of a roaring fire, wrapped in warm blankets and his pretty bride. In fairness, none of them had known the Marquess of Valence was courting again until well after Iain’s departure for Gretna Green. But Gisele would have suggested—no, insisted—that Iain head north with his love even if they’d been aware of Valence’s betrothal at the time. She was thrilled for her newlywed friends, and she wished the couple every happiness.
    Which meant she would lay the blame for the entire Montcrief debacle at Sebastien’s feet instead.
    At the end of her conversation with a sheet-clad James yesterday morning, Gisele had been convinced she had the situation well in hand. He’d accepted her terms of employment with little delay. He was impressivephysically, and she had been certain his natural intelligence would right itself as soon as every last ounce of alcohol had been flushed from his brain. In short, Gisele judged James Montcrief as more than capable of seeing his contract through. The man was exactly who and what she required, no more and no less.
    So there had been simply no cause for Sebastien to transform James Montcrief into…
that
.
    Even after a day and a half, Gisele was still trying to relate the bearded, bleary-eyed, ale-sodden creature she had hired to the Greek god now keeping pace beside her. Sebastien’s ministrations had uncovered a gentleman possessed of both refined elegance and raw masculine magnetism—and she found the whole package too unsettling for words.
    Things had been much simpler when Montcrief was filthy and drunk.
    His hair, she had learned, wasn’t brown, as she had first thought. Today it was more of a burnished gold, and it fell in thick, cleverly styled waves over his forehead. Without his beard he had a wide, pleasing face, with eyes the color of fine whiskey and lashes that any woman would gladly barter her soul to keep. On another man they might have looked feminine. But other men didn’t have James’s strong jaw. Or the strong shoulders and broad chest. Or the powerful legs. Or the strong forearms—she cut herself off with an inward curse. The man simply radiated strength through every pore. Even his damn horse looked stronger when he rode it.
    A cavalry
captain
, the boys in the Nottingham stable had told her with wide, worshipful eyes as she had paced, watching James select a mount with the care of a jewelerexamining fine stones. Gisele had always considered herself a fair horsewoman. But the man riding beside her made her feel like the greenest girl poking along on her pony. He rode as if he were part of the bloody beast, and he didn’t even seem to be trying. Maybe it was his seat. The way he sat his horse was effortless, his long legs relaxed and balanced. Those same legs were sheathed in riding breeches that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, and Gisele was finding it difficult not to continuously admire the way they hugged his thighs and his hips. Which was asinine, considering she had already seen him naked. One would think that would have been sufficient. But even now she couldn’t resist tilting her head, resenting the coat of superfine she knew hid a truly magnificent backside.
    “Is there something wrong?” James glanced down at the back of his saddle.
    “I beg your