Patricia Rice Read Online Free PDF Page A

lips on hers. Rupert had caught
her unprepared. Viciously, she trod on his toe, but her cloth slippers went
unnoticed against his leather boots. Holding her tight, he nuzzled her neck,
and she nearly lost her supper in revulsion.
    Her brother kept very little in the way of servants, and
those few were in all probability sleeping off drunken stupors in the distant
basement. She was quite effectively alone in this trap laid for her. She
struggled and tried to use her knee as she’d learned to do, but the gown’s
fabric was trapped by his tight hold.
    Just as Rupert crudely seized her breast, the door crashed
open.
    Far from appearing the gallant white knight, Merrick gazed
upon her with disgust as he discovered her wrapped in Rupert’s arms. She was
nearly of a height with the baronet, and her hand in Rupert’s hair must have
the appearance of a lover’s caress in his eyes. Trapped by a strong arm,
Cassandra strained to escape, but the resulting position pulled her velvet gown
taut over her breasts. Realizing how she must appear, she struggled to right
herself, but Rupert brazenly kept his fist closed over her breast.
    As Thomas tumbled in, Merrick pulled himself erect, offered a
look of disdain, and growled, “Let us go, Thomas. I fear we are intruding.”
    Cassandra’s furious cry brought him to a halt.
    “Damn you, Wyatt, help me!” Cassandra dug her nails deeper
into Rupert’s neck in an attempt to pry loose from his embrace.
    Merrick’s expression immediately transformed to dangerous. “I
believe the lady protests your embrace, Rupert. I would recommend releasing
her.”
    The baronet’s breath reeked of spirits as he deliberately
manipulated Cassandra’s breast. “She’s promised to me. She can protest all she
wants, but I have her brother’s permission to make her mine. She just needs a
little taming, that’s all.”
    Cassandra ripped at Rupert’s hair, yanking his head closer
until she could grab his nose between her teeth. She bit hard until he yelled
and practically dropped her.
    Merrick caught her before she fell, and she grasped his
waistcoat and shuddered against his chest as the baronet wailed and searched
for a handkerchief.
    ~*~
    One of them was trembling like a leaf, and Wyatt wasn’t at
all certain that it wasn’t himself. Irrational rage washed over him for the
first time since childhood. He hadn’t been this furious in years, but this was
none of his affair. He had no right to interfere—as much as he desired to plant
a facer in the middle of the rake’s already injured nose.
    He’d wanted to laugh aloud at Cass’s means of retaliation,
but her trembling warned she was more terrified than she’d appeared. He couldn’t
release her to strike even if he wished to do so.
    “Thomas, would you show the gentleman out?” Merrick asked
coldly. The baronet could very well be in the right of it. Cassandra needed a
strong hand taken to her, but a fist wasn’t what he had in mind.
    Rupert was in no state to offer a fight against the brute
strength of the younger Scheffing. He left reluctantly under escort. Young
Thomas followed him out and closed the door after him.
    Left alone in the darkened hall, Merrick instantly set the
lady in his arms at a proper distance, although he continued to steady her
until she wiped at her eye and offered a wavery smile.
    “I apologize for cursing you, my lord. My brother’s
practical jokes sometimes fail to strike me with their humor.”
    She was lying, he was certain, but he pressed the topic. “Then
you are not betrothed to him? I should think your brother would have to call
him out for such behavior.”
    Cassandra took a deep breath and smiled a little brighter. “Oh,
yes, well, I suppose I am promised to him for now, but in a week or so he will
grow tired of my sharp tongue and Duncan will pay him back his markers and he
will be gone like all the others. Sometimes it’s an amusing game and most of
the gentlemen play it properly. I fear Sir Rupert