My Fair Temptress Read Online Free PDF Page A

and Caroline had to admit the fool had a kind heart, for he’d uttered not a word of reproach when Edith had assisted Caroline in the darkest days after the scandal.
    But His Grace had a single goal, the marriage of his son, and he drove toward that event relentlessly. “Huntington’s title and wealth attracts the ladies. His manners and his interests drive them away.”
    “Not completely. I can’t believe they are completely repulsed.”
    “No. Regardless of his idiocy, they try valiantly to win his regard. But he doesn’t seem to notice, or care. The ladies might as well be…be…invisible!”
    If that were the case, the problem might not be so easily resolved.
    But Nevett noted her silent, questioning glance, and said with a snort of impatience, “I’m not a man given to dreams for my son to which he is unequal. From his tenth birthday, he displayed an eager interest in the fair sex. The lad visits actresses on a regular basis. Never the same one twice, mind you, but he’s still got the needs of a, er…” His Grace seemed to remember he spoke to a lady, albeit a lady he had hired. “Never mind.”
    “You’ve had him followed.”
    Lord Nevett viewed her forbiddingly, and she understood him. He was a duke. He would do as he wished, and a chit like her should not question him.
    With a scornful twist to his mouth, he said, “Lady Bucknell recommended you as the best flirt to be had, but now that I’ve met you, I have my doubts. You seem light-minded and inexperienced. Do you think you can do it?”
    “Teach your son how to flirt?” Could Caroline teach Huntington how to flirt? Of course she could!
    For the first time since she had been compromised, she allowed herself to submerge into the sweet and downy personality of Miss Caroline Ritter. Her eyelashes sank down to rest on her cheeks, then up to gaze adoringly at Lord Nevett. A small, secretive smile lifted her full lips. Her posture changed; she leaned against the desk, and her shoulders developed a seductive slope. She took a deep breath, bringing her breasts to his attention, then in a low, husky voice, she said, “I have no doubt I can teach Lord Huntington how to flirt.”
    “By George.” The duke’s gaze fastened to her in masculine appreciation. “If I were twenty years younger and unmarried, I’d hire you to teach me how to flirt.”
    She answered automatically, as he—as any man—would have wished. “You, my lord, need no instruction. Not now. Nor, I wager, not twenty years ago.”
    He chuckled deeply, and she realized with a shock she probably had spoken the truth. He was a very attractive man.
    “You’re very good,” he said. “Very good indeed.”
    She was good. She knew it in her heart, for although she had been careful, these past four years, to appear plain and capable, she had been playing a part. As she once more plunged herself in the role of a flirt, she returned to her true persona. As her father had repeatedly told her, she was born to be a coquette, nothing more, nothing less—and that was a lowering reflection, indeed.
    His Grace bobbed up from the depths of his appreciation. “As impressive as was that exhibition, I would have to point out that that is feminine flirting. How will you teach Jude to act like a man?”
    “He will not act, he will react. In my experience, when a man is confronted with a lady who calls forth his sentient male predatory instincts, he responds appropriately. My task, as I see it, is to hone that instinct in Lord Huntington so that every time he sees a skirt, he automatically flirts.”
    Nevett’s remarkable brows rose to his hairline. “You’ve thought this through.”
    “I have, indeed. If I am to be a success in this position, it will take more than a simple tap of my magic wand. I’m gathering all my forces, all my intellect…such as it is…all my experience.” With every intent of impressing him, she removed the green leather-bound journal from her bag. She showed him her