Miss Frazer's Adventure Read Online Free PDF Page A

boil.
    â€œFor your information, I just met Lord Thorpe.” She roughly tugged at her spencer. “Although I do not comprehend why I am explaining anything to you. Who I may or may not marry is no longer your concern.”
    His hands landed on his hips, making the muscles beneath the clinging coat ripple with a fluid strength.
    â€œYou are still my fiancée.”
    â€œFiancée? I have never been more to you than a tempting dowry.” She gave a lift of her chin. “But no longer. Now I fear you must seek a new means of acquiring your fortune.”
    His brows drew together. “You were eager enough to wed me just a few weeks ago. Your feelings cannot have changed so swiftly.”
    â€œBut they have. Everything has changed.”
    A sharp, disbelieving silence descended as he gave a slow shake of his head. “This is insanity, Kate,” he burst out in obvious frustration.
    â€œNo, this is my life and I intend to enjoy it. Every moment of it. Pack your bags and go home, my lord. There is nothing you can say or do to change my mind.”
    She reached down to grab her reticule, and Calfield took a hurried step forward. “Where are you going?”
    â€œBack to the hotel to change my attire,” she informed in him crisp tones. “I am attending the most fascinating lecture on Egyptian mummies this afternoon.”
    Not giving him the opportunity to respond, Kate turned on her heel and marched toward the nearby hotel.
    To hell with Lord Calfield, she told herself firmly.
    If he wished to waste his time chasing after her, then so be it.
    There was nothing he could do to force her into marriage. Not as long as she remained adamant in her refusal. Eventually he would tire of his game and leave.
    Until then, she would carry on exactly as she had planned.
    A hot bath.
    An Egyptian lecture.
    A brief nap.
    And attending the theater with a man who was utterly breathtaking.
    Yes, life was good.
    * * *
    Life was a royal pain in the backside.
    Seated in the sinfully luxurious theater lobby, Luce stretched out his long legs and sipped his scotch.
    He should have been on the docks.
    There were always meetings to attend. Deadlines to meet. A payroll to sign.
    A luscious mistress who would be delighted to return him to her bed.
    Why the devil should he be chasing after a woman who obviously was not at all what he had thought? A woman who clearly possessed the temperament of a shrew and the tongue of a viper? A woman, moreover, who had made it clear that she considered him a worthless fortune hunter?
    If he possessed the least scrap of sense, he would be rejoicing at having avoided an eternity with a woman destined to become a bitter, shrill spinster.
    No, a silky voice whispered from the back of his mind. Never a spinster. Not with that firm and shockingly desirable form that had suddenly been revealed in the sheer crimson gown.
    An unwelcome heat flooded his lower body as he recalled the sight of her attired as audaciously as any courtesan. For long moments, he had not even recognized his prim and proper fiancée.
    Surely, Kate could not possess that delicate body that virtually begged for a man’s touch? Or that heavy curtain of titian hair that had been left loose to shimmer with a seductive promise of hidden fires?
    His body had reacted with a purely male instinct to her alluring attire. Not even the realization that it was indeed his fiancée could halt the stirring awareness.
    And it had not helped to have that lusty Lord Thorpe panting beside her like a cur in heat.
    He had wanted to sling Kate over his shoulder and carry her back to where she belonged. Or better yet, put his fist into the leering scoundrel’s overly pretty face.
    It was little wonder he had handled their encounter with the finesse of a fumbling buffoon, he wryly acknowledged. He had been caught off guard, startled by the undoubted transformation of Kate as well as her stubborn determination to court certain