Mine Till Midnight Read Online Free PDF

with a quiet smolder in his eyes that caused her breath to catch. “I believe in magic and mystery, and dreams that reveal the future. And I believe some things are written in the stars … or even in the palm of your hand.”
    Mesmerized, Amelia was unable to look away from him. He was an extraordinarily beautiful man, his skin as dark as clover honey, his black hair falling over his forehead in a way that made her fingers twitch with the urge to push it back.
    “Do you believe in fate too?” she asked Merripen.
    A long hesitation. “I’m a Roma,” he said.
    Which meant yes. “Good Lord, Merripen. I’ve always thought of you as a sensible man.”
    Rohan laughed. “It’s only sensible to allow for the possibility, Miss Hathaway. Just because you can’t see or feel something doesn’t mean it can’t exist.”
    “There is no such thing as fate,” Amelia insisted. “There is only action and consequence.”
    The carriage came to a halt, this time in a much shabbier place than St. James or King Street. There was a beer shop and three-penny lodging house on one side, and a large tavern on the other. The pedestrians on this street had the appearance of sham gentility, rubbing elbows with costers, pickpockets, and more prostitutes.
    A brawl was in progress near the threshold of the tavern, a writhing mixture of arms, legs, flying hats, and bottles and canes. Anytime there was a fight, the greatest likelihood was that her brother had started it.
    “Merripen,” she said anxiously, “you know how Leo is when he’s foxed. He’s probably in the middle of the fray. If you would be so kind—”
    Before she had even finished, Merripen made to leave the carriage.
    “Wait,” Rohan said. “You’d better let me handle it.”
    Merripen gave him a cold glance. “You doubt my ability to fight?”
    “This is a London rookery. I’m used to the kind of tricks they employ. If you—” Rohan broke off as Merripen ignored him and left the carriage with a surly grunt. “So be it,” Rohan said, exiting the carriage and standing beside it to watch. “They’ll slice him open like a mackerel at a Covent Garden fish stand.”
    Amelia came out of the vehicle as well. “Merripen can handle himself quite well in a fight, I assure you.”
    Rohan looked down at her, his eyes shadowed and catlike. “You’ll be safer inside the vehicle.”
    “I have you for protection, do I not?” she pointed out.
    “Sweetheart,” he said with a softness that undercut the noise of the crowd, “I may be the one you most need protection from.”
    She felt her heart miss a beat. He met her wide-eyed glance with a steady interest that caused her toes to curl inside her practical leather shoes. Fighting for composure, Amelia looked away from him. But she remained sharply aware of him, the relaxed alertness of his posture, the unknown pulse secreted beneath the elegant layers of his clothing.
    They watched as Merripen waded into the chaos of brawling men, sorted through a few of them. Before a half minute had passed, he unceremoniously hauled someone out, easily deflecting blows with his free arm.
    “He’s good,” Rohan said in mild surprise.
    Amelia was overwhelmed with relief as she recognized Leo’s disheveled form. “Oh, thank God.”
    Her eyes flew open, however, as she felt a gentle touch at the edge of her jaw. Rohan’s fingers were nudging her face upward, his thumb brushing the tip of her chin. The unexpected intimacy sent a little shock through her. His flame-bright gaze had seized hers again.
    “Don’t you think you’re being a bit overprotective, chasing your grown brother across London? He’s not doing anything all that unusual. Most young lords in his position would behave the same.”
    “You don’t know him,” Amelia said, sounding shaken to her own ears. She knew she should pull away from his warm fingers, but her body remained perversely still, absorbing the pleasure of his touch. “It’s far from usual behavior for