Regency Wagers Read Online Free PDF Page A

throat tighten at the vision of so much beauty.
    She paused, her eyes searching his face. ‘My name is Madeleine.’ She added a faint smile. ‘Madeleine England.’
    He remembered the feel of her bare skin next to his, the lushness of her full breasts, and the ecstasy of her passion. His eyes swept over her as his body came alive to her again.
    The child sleeping against her shoulder brought him back to his senses, a tiny girl, a miniature of the mother, very much resembling the wax dolls on his sisters’ old toy shelf. The child’s feathery long lashes cast shadows on the rosy cheek that lay against Madeleine’s shoulder.
    What the deuce was he to do with the lot of them?
    Bart broke out into guffaws of laughter. ‘Cast yourself into the briars again, have you, Dev?’
    Madeleine lifted her chin, refusing to let it tremble in disappointment as she regarded the two men. At Farley’s, her vision blurred by Farley’s blow, she’d thought she dreamed Lieutenant Devlin Steele. Lord, she’d dreamed of him often enough. But when she’d blinked her eyes, it truly had been he.
    She understood too well the look he’d given her a moment ago. It spoke of wanting to bed her. Foolish of her to forget this would be his motive for rescuing her. He could not be the brave and gallant dragoon of her fantasy. It had always been a silly fancy, after all, even if visions of him riding up on a tall stallion had comforted many a night.
    Especially the nights Lord Farley came to share her bed.
    The lieutenant ran his hand through his hair and replied to the other man’s remark. ‘I’ve not quite worked out what to do.’
    She knew what he would do. He would cast them off as soon as he could. He must dislike her bringing Sophie andLinette. Perhaps if she’d come to him alone he’d have been content to keep her.
    No matter. She would go nowhere without her daughter and her friend. They depended upon her.
    She avoided looking at him. ‘We shall not trouble you, sir. It is light outside. I am sure we may be safely on our way.’ She reached for her cloak. ‘Come, Sophie.’
    The slight figure was in mid-yawn, her lank yellow hair falling across her face. The other man reached out an arm for her as she staggered.
    ‘The lass is dead on her feet,’ he protested.
    The lieutenant rubbed his brow, as Madeleine struggled with her cloak. The child squirmed and started to whimper. The cloak slipped to the floor. She tried to comfort Linette, swaying to and fro with her as she had done since her infancy.
    ‘Do not be foolish, Miss England.’ He picked up the cloak and tossed it out of her reach. ‘You confided you have nowhere to go.’
    ‘It is none of your concern.’ She attempted to pass by him to reach her cloak.
    He stepped in her path and put his hand on her arm. ‘You will stay here.’
    She wrenched her arm away. The child started to whimper.
    ‘You have made her cry,’ Madeleine said. Much easier to be angry at him than to worry about where she would go if they did walk out the door. What would happen to Linette out there in the streets?
    ‘I have made her cry?’ His eyebrows lifted. ‘Do you believe she will fare better if I allow you to leave? Do you have money enough to take care of her?’
    She could not meet his eye.
    He gently took her chin in his hand and made her look at him. ‘You do not have money enough even for a hackney coach, do you?’
    Her little girl stopped crying and stared with wide eyes at the man. ‘Coach?’ the child said.
    Madeleine clucked at Linette, taking advantage of the opportunity to turn her back on Devlin. Inside panic reigned. Where would they go? Not back to Farley. Never back to Farley, but where? ‘I do not need your concern.’
    He marched around to face her again, and his voice became quieter. ‘I beg to differ with you. If you will recall, it was I who intervened when Farley struck you.’ He reached toward her cheek.
    She shrugged him away, refusing to let him touch her.