One Night of Sin Read Online Free PDF Page B

stalking toward her another step or two as he caught his breath. “Easy, kitten—”
    “Don’t you ‘kitten’ me!”
Whoosh!
—the metal bar sang through the air in her grasp. Her dark tresses flew; the dirt-streaked skirts swirled around her trim figure as she swung her weapon with admirable ferocity straight at Alec’s head.
    He ducked, his fencer’s reflexes yanking him under the arc, but the nearness of the miss left him astonished all over again. Women had been threatening to kill him for years, but none had actually tried it before.
    “Jesus!” he exclaimed, and then started laughing again. He couldn’t help it.
    Her face flushed. “Don’t you dare laugh at me, you coxcomb! I’m not afraid of you! A hero’s blood flows in these veins, I’ll have you know!” she cried wrathfully, trying—rather adorably, Alec thought—to scare him away. “My father fought beside Nelson at Trafalgar!”
    He held up his hands. “I surrender! Don’t hurt me!”
    “Ugh, you—” Another massive crash of lightning overhead cut off her words and sent her darting under a nearby awning of one of the shops that lined the street.
    Alec followed eagerly, but when he joined her, she was already in position to defend the small rectangle of dry territory she had claimed.
    With her weapon at the ready, she begrudgingly allowed him to step under the cover of the striped tin awning.
    The shadows were deeper in their shelter. He smiled wickedly at her as he approached. “Well, isn’t this cozy?”
    The warm rain drummed upon the awning’s painted tin, dampening the sound and casting an air of intimacy over their taut standoff.
    The girl backed up a step uneasily, adjusting her grip, more than willing, it seemed, to try again to break his head if he made one false move.
    Alec was on his guard and half smitten—though that meant nothing. He was known to fall in love six or seven times a day.
Beautiful eyes,
he thought. He studied her by the distant streetlamp’s glow through a haze of rain. Big, stormy eyes full of fight and spirit, their violet hue a rare and fascinating color. Her thick dark hair was slicked back with the rain, accenting the delicate sculpture of her face. Raindrops starred her lashes and turned her plump lips to dewy roses. Dirty little stray. Ravishing.
    And he wanted her.
    He dared not tell her so, however, for fear of the risk to his health. Indeed, his amusement at her ire was bound to get him clobbered, but he could not wipe the roguish grin off his face. Finally, a distraction worthy of him. “You’re rather handy with that thing. Have you ever thought of playing cricket? Our team could use you at the Lords.”
    She let out a dainty growl of exasperation.
Whoosh!
—again. He leaned back from the waist as the candle-snuffer sailed past his chest. He could have grabbed it, but then she would have run and his fun would end.
    “What’s wrong with you?” she cried, obviously vexed by her miss. “Why won’t you leave me alone?”
    “But mademoiselle, I only came to make sure you’re all right—and, of course, to apologize for my friends’ rude behavior,” he added with his purest choirboy stare. He offered a charming smile of humble male contrition along with it, but she eyed him warily, as though she wasn’t buying it. Well, she soon would. They always did. “They didn’t mean to frighten you—”
    “I wasn’t scared!”
    “Of course not.” Alec’s lips twitched with the effort not to smile at her bravado. “Still, it wasn’t very nice of them to disturb your slumber.”
    She raised her weapon in menace. “Are you making fun of me again?”
    “Why, no,” he answered softly. “I’m flirting with you, my dear.”

CHAPTER
    TWO
    “ O h,” Becky said slowly, not quite sure what to do with this information. She flicked her fingers more firmly around the metal rod of the candlesnuffer, though, securing her grip—just in case he tried anything.
    The man’s smile was knowing,