One More Kiss Read Online Free PDF

he realized that this was the woman from the window. The one who had waved at him. Now he could see she was as lovely up close as she had appeared from a distance, with diminutive but promising curves in all the right places. Her brown hair was alive with gold highlights, her eyes a lively brown, and her mouth eminently kissable. Indeed, he thought, she was the very definition of a “pocket Venus.”
    Her expressive smile captivated him, both serious and adventurous at the same time.
    She held the dog away from her cheeks. The sound ofher laughter faded, but the joy of it still lit her face. What a treasure. Closely guarded, no doubt, as Jess realized that she must be one of the mill owner’s daughters for whom the countess was hosting the party.
    This little Venus was blessed with a joie de vivre that would eclipse her lack of birthright, and a fortune that would make everything else irrelevant to an impoverished peer. Which he most definitely was not, neither impoverished nor a peer.
    And he also had long since lost interest in innocents, he reminded himself. Seducing the unschooled was like making love to someone who spoke a different language. Even flirting brought too great a margin for misunderstanding, tears, and angry fathers. All of which he had grown tired of a lifetime ago.
    She laughed again and lowered the dog to the floor. As she did, something dropped from a pocket and the ever-playful dog snatched it up.
    “Do catch him, please!” The girl raced after the dog, who was heading straight for Jess. He made a grab for the animal and caught it by the black silk collar it wore. As he lifted the creature and tucked it under his arm, he bowed to the girl.
    With the girl at his side, he turned toward Mrs. Kendrick, who was looking as distressed as a mother with a misbehaving child.
    “Don’t move!” the little Venus ordered.
    Before her words registered, Jess continued toward Mrs. Kendrick, and as he completed that first step he felt a crunch beneath his boots.
    “My spectacles!” Venus cried.
    Irritated by his own clumsiness, Jess handed the dogover to its owner and bent down to retrieve the mess of metal and glass fragments. He pulled out his handkerchief and wrapped the remains so that she would not be cut by the glass.
    “I told you not to move,” the girl said with quiet disappointment.
    “I do apologize.” He gave her another exaggerated bow as he handed her the linen-wrapped glasses. Their hands touched. It was that simple, but he felt a jolt of awareness and knew she did, too, by the way her eyes flew to his.
    “Why is it that men simply do not listen?” she asked him, still holding his hand and looking as though she truly wanted an answer to that question and a hundred others. He wished he knew. He wished he could give her all the answers. But that was not his role at this house party.
    “Because I was blinded by your smile and deaf to anything but your laughter.”
    “Really?” She let go of his hand, accepting the pathetic bundle of her broken spectacles, her disappointment at the glib answer apparent. She then curtsied with a flamboyance that matched his. “I imagine you have used that excuse before.”
    “Only when it is the truth.” Innocent, yes, but not naive. That was refreshing. “I offer my apologies for the distraction, but then I do think it is you who should apologize to me. For the distraction, that is, since it’s your beauty that caused it.” There, he had coaxed a smile out of her finally. “I am most sincerely sorry to have ruined your spectacles.”
    “It’s quite all right, sir. I have another pair.”
    The little Venus smiled over her shoulder at him asshe turned away, taking a step or two toward their hostess.
    That smile, he thought, was the most charming invitation. It was not, should not be, what he wanted at all.
    “My lady, my apologies for causing such a commotion,” she said to the countess.
    “There is nothing to apologize for. This is Mrs. Kendrick,