My Runaway Heart Read Online Free PDF

onto a nearby table. She fell upon the silver crown like a vulture, her
expression ingratiating as she tucked the coin deep into her bodice.
    "That was sweet of you, luv ,
but I would have liked another tumble, if you want the truth of it. I'd risk
splinters in me bum at any hour for the likes o' you."
    Smiling grimly, Jared offered a slight bow and turned
back to the stairs, but she made it there before him, her ample rump switching
from side to side as she made one last obvious attempt to entice him. But he
was already thinking again of another woman's figure, a younger woman with such
delectable hourglass curves that waltzing with her tonight had been the worst
sort of torture.
    A torture, by God, that would end tomorrow night, his
burning thoughts of seduction having kept him up even later than usual, the
first pale rays of dawn sneaking glimpses through the Boar's Head tavern's
closed shutters. With a low groan he pushed open the door to his room and
kicked it shut behind him, not caring about the noise or whom he might awaken.
    He made short work of his evening clothes, tossing them
onto a threadbare stuffed chair before dropping naked onto his bed. No matter
that this room was the best offered by the tavern; the air was chill, the
mattress lumpy, the blankets scratchy and thin, but he had slept in worse in
his day. And the place suited him more than any elegant Mayfair town house he
could have rented for the Season where busybody neighbors and fellow members of
the ton might watch his every move.
    Suited, too, his notorious reputation, Jared thought
with a humorless laugh, throwing an arm over his eyes. What better place for a
rake such as he other than some latest conquest's
boudoir? He could imagine the furtive talk about his choice of lodging when he
could easily afford the finest of London's accommodations, and that suited him
as well. Such speculation kept idle, frivolous minds and tongues well occupied
and thankfully diverted from more serious matters so a man could go about his
work.
    Another low, grim laugh broke the silence. Jared closed
his eyes and allowed the beauteous Miss Lindsay Somerset to once more overwhelm
his thoughts. She had been on his mind already, he hadn't been able to think of
much else since first setting eyes upon her at the Oglethorpes '
ball, so it came as no surprise to him that focusing upon her could so
completely and quickly enflame his senses.
    He wanted her.
    And he would have the minx tomorrow night, perhaps even
inside the carriage if she teased him as mercilessly as she had done tonight.
Her beguiling smiles, her willingness to allow him to hold her so closely in
his arms, her brazen suggestion that he meet her alone, that feigned swoon
which had clued him at once that Lindsay Somerset was a shrewd young woman who
knew how to manipulate and entice men.
    He had met her kind before, his association in the past
with several comely chits fresh from the countryside having earned him the
reputation of a seducer of innocents. But those young women, not a blushing
virgin among them, had proved themselves from the first to be not so pure and
innocent and had welcomed his advances as skillfully as married ladies of the
ton offered him their sexual favors.
    A fat purse and paid coach back to the country had
soothed conniving mothers and cuckolded papas, the cunning wantons quite happy
to settle down with a local squire or baronet once their fortunes were either
enriched or assured. But that hadn't improved his reputation, not that he gave
a damn. And seducing Lindsay Somerset wouldn't make matters any worse, and
would certainly ease his present discomfort . . .
    Jared groaned to himself, almost wishing he had
accepted the tavern keeper's wife's lusty invitation. With great difficulty he
forced away tantalizing thoughts of Lindsay's breasts pressed against him,
breasts so creamy and full and perfectly rounded he could already feel their
ripe weight in his hands.
    In mute agony, he forced away