Luring a Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

He rose. “You can bring it when you pick me up. We should make it seven.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œFor dinner.” He leaned forward. For a shocking moment, she thought he was actually going to kiss her. She went rigid as a spear, but he only rubbed the lapel of her suit between his thumb and forefinger. “You must wear something with color.”
    She pushed the chair back and stood. “I have no intention of taking you to my mother’s home for dinner.”
    â€œYou’re afraid to be with me.” He said so with no little amount of pride.
    Her chin jutted out. “Certainly not.”
    â€œWhat else could it be?” With his eyes on hers, he strolled around the desk until they were face-to-face. “A woman like you could not be so ill-mannered without a reason.”
    The breath was backing up in her lungs. Sydney forced it out in one huff. “It’s reason enough that I dislike you.”
    He only smiled and toyed with the pearls at her throat. “No. Aristocrats are predictable, Hayward. You would be taught to tolerate people you don’t like. For them, you would be the most polite.”
    â€œStop touching me.”
    â€œI’m putting color in your cheeks.” He laughed and let the pearls slide out of his fingers. Her skin, he was sure, would be just as smooth, just as cool. “Come now, Sydney, what will you tell your charming mother when you go to her party without me? How will you explain that you refused to bring me?” He could see the war in her eyes, the one fought between pride and manners and temper, and laughed again. “Trapped by your breeding,” he murmured. “This is not something I have to worry about myself.”
    â€œNo doubt,” she said between her teeth.
    â€œFriday,” he said, and infuriated her by flicking a finger down her cheek. “Seven o’clock.”
    â€œMr. Stanislaski,” she murmured when he reached the door. As he turned back, she offered her coolest smile. “Try to find something in your closet without holes in it.”
    She could hear him laughing at her as he walked down the hallway.If only, she thought as she dropped back into her chair. If only she hadn’t been so well-bred, she could have released some of this venom by throwing breakables at the door.
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    She wore black quite deliberately. Under no circumstances did she want him to believe that she would fuss through her wardrobe, looking for something colorful because he’d suggested it. And she thought the simple tube of a dress was both businesslike, fashionable and appropriate.
    On impulse, she had taken her hair down so that it fluffed out to skim her shoulders—only because she’d tired of wearing it pulled back. As always, she had debated her look for the evening carefully and was satisfied that she had achieved an aloof elegance.
    She could hear the music blasting through his door before she knocked. It surprised her to hear the passionate strains of Carmen. She rapped harder, nearly gave in to the urge to shout over the aria, when the door swung open. Behind it was the blond knockout in a skimpy T-shirt and skimpier shorts.
    â€œHi.” Keely crunched a piece of ice between her teeth and swallowed. “I was just borrowing an ice tray from Mik—my freezer’s set on melt these days.” She managed to smile and forced herself not to tug on her clothes. She felt like a peasant caught poaching by the royal princess. “I was just leaving.” Before Sydney could speak, she dashed back inside to scoop up a tray of ice. “Mik, your date’s here.”
    Sydney winced at the term date as the blond bullet streaked past her. “There’s no need for you to rush off—”
    â€œThree’s a crowd,” Keely told her on the run and, with a quick fleeting grin, kept going.
    â€œDid you call me?” Mikhail came to the bedroom doorway. Therewas one, very small