Julia London - [Scandalous 02] Read Online Free PDF

that I would never attempt to seduce a woman who did no’ desire to be completely ”—he paused, letting his words hang a moment as he admired her décolletage—“and thoroughly seduced.”
    “I assure you, I have no such desire,” she insisted.
    He smiled knowingly. “No’ yet, at least.”
    Lizzie gasped. “You are unconscionably bold! And you flatter yourself, milord!” She abruptly pushed past him and fled to the foot of the bed, where she looked about the small room for any sort of escape from his dancing gray eyes.
    “Well, then!” he said cheerfully. “If you’re no’ inclined to make this confinement at least a wee bit more enjoyable, I believe I shall retire. I’ve had a rather long day.” He gestured to the bed. “For you, madam.”
    She looked at it. So did he. “Y-you take it,” she said. “I’ll sleep by the door.”
    “The door ?”
    “Aye, the door!”
    “You’ll protect us, will you, with your wee knife?”
    “Please! When my fiancé comes, he shall find me by the door and know that nothing transpired here that could possibly raise alarm.”
    “Oh?” Lambourne asked, looking interested. “So the mysterious suitor is coming, then?”
    “If my fiancé hears of it, I am certain he shall,” Lizzie said, lifting her chin.
    “Well, well…a fiancé rides into the midst of this madness to straighten things out,” he said. “That ought to liven things up a bit.” He winked playfully at her and began to unwind his neckcloth.
    “He’s…he’s no’ precisely my fiancé,” she absently amended as she watched him remove the neckcloth and lay it across the back of a chair. “But we have a very firm understanding,” she said as he laid his collar there too.
    “I admire that you’ll no’ allow a wee thing like a handfasting vow to stop you, lass. My compliments on your impending nuptials,” he said as he started on the buttons of his waistcoat. “And you must have the bed. I’veno’ yet lost all sense of decency—I canna allow a lady to sleep on the floor.”
    She realized Lambourne intended to remove his clothing to sleep. “No,” Lizzie said, shaking her head. “I will sleep on the floor.”
    “Ach, now, Lizzie, donna be so stubborn!” he playfully chided her as he shrugged out of the waistcoat and draped it over the chair. “Take the bed—”
    “I will no’ take it!” she insisted. “I will no’ allow him to believe I’ve taken one step near that bed!”
    “Sleeping on the floor will make for a miserable night, you may trust me.”
    She shrugged.
    Jack sighed. “Very well, then. Suit yourself.” He pulled his lawn shirt from his trousers.
    “Stop, stop !” Lizzie cried, throwing up a hand and turning her head.
    “What now?” Jack demanded. “Can a man no’ sleep unencumbered?”
    Her face was blazing; she could feel it. “No! No! Of course no’!”
    “I was no’ intending to sleep naked, if that is what you think,” he said irritably. He took one of the pillows and a blanket from the bed, then strode to where Lizzie stood and handed them to her. “Good night, lover,” he said, and flashed that dashing, rakish smile.
    Lizzie grabbed the pillow and blanket and whirled away from him. She made a place to sleep near the door and pretended to be fastidious about it so she’d not have to look at him. She heard him at the basin, then heard the creak of the bedsprings. That was followed by the sound of his boots dropping, one by one, onto the floor.
    She did not want to look, she would not look—
    She looked. He was on top of the counterpane,propped against the headboard, watching her. “This,” she said primly, gesturing to her pallet, “is the only acceptable solution under the circumstances.”
    “Then it would seem there is nothing left to say but good night.” And with that, he snuffed the candle.
    Only the coals of a dying fire at the hearth illuminated the room. Lizzie eased herself down on her pallet and tried to make herself comfortable,