Ruthless Charmer Read Online Free PDF Page B

that condescending way of his that she wasn't good enough for Lord Rothembow and should therefore set her sights on other men. This from the man who led Phillip to his demise with the constant gambling and drinking and Lord knew what else. Granted, sitting beside her now he looked the very same as the Julian Dane she had known all those years ago. The same Julian Dane who still made her insides turn to jelly. But he couldn't possibly be the same man, because that Julian Dane had disappeared when Valerie died, only to be replaced by this imposter. This incredibly handsome, exceedingly virile imposter.
    Kettering chuckled softly to himself when she did not respond and turned his attention to Herbert, posing a question that Claudia did not quite catch. Herbert responded with much enthusiasm, and after several moments of unintelligible chatter between the two of them—really, she would be quite able to understand if everyone just slowed down a bit—Kettering signaled for the innkeeper. Smiling in that particularly charming way of his, he explained something to the innkeeper that included a gesture toward Herbert and a coin fished from his pocket.
    "Certainement, monsieur," the innkeeper replied with an enthusiastic nod, and taking the coin, pivoted sharply on his heel. "Frangois! Ou est Frangois!" he bellowed, and hurried away, disappearing through a door as Herbert braced his hands against the table and pushed himself to his feet.
    Alarmed, Claudia looked frantically from Kettering to Herbert and back again. "Wh-what are you doing, Herbert? Where are you going? You can't walk!"
    Herbert grinned and bowed. "Bon voyage, madame."
    "Not to worry," Kettering cheerfully offered. "Herbert tells me you are returning to England tonight. As luck would have it, you and I are crossing on the same packet. I naturally offered my escort so that he might get an early start for la Claire. He is most appreciative, I assure you— particularly since he had not intended to come so far today."
    She ignored that barb because her mind was trying to absorb the idea that the scoundrel was returning to England . . . tonight! On the same boat as she? How much worse could this be? She felt a bit of panic and opened her mouth to protest, but Kettering quickly interjected, "I am quite certain you will agree that Herbert has a long journey ahead of him. We wouldn't want to see him start in the middle of the night unnecessarily, would we?"
    A young man suddenly appeared, and with one look at Herbert, the two men burst into simultaneous chatter. As Herbert put his arm around the man's shoulder, talking excitedly and gesturing to everyone around him, Kettering turned to Claudia. "Say au revoir to Herbert."
    "Au revoir, madame!" Herbert sang out, and gestured for the other man to proceed. The two Frenchmen began to work their way across the common room, each talking rapidly over the other.
    "But—"
    "It seems Francois is a friend of Herbert's cousin," Kettering explained.
    "But he can't drive the carriage!" she blustered as Herbert disappeared through the door.
    "Ah, but he can. As he apparently tried to tell you all the way to Dieppe, the carriage has a hand brake, and he is quite confident that he can use it, seeing as how it was his foot you mangled, not his hand."
    That gave her a moment's pause—come to think of it, Herbert had gestured to the brake quite a lot.
    Kettering grinned. "Seems you had yourself a rather exciting escape."
    Blast it all, how on earth had she ended up alone with him? "It was not an escape," she insisted, noticing how his eyes danced with amusement. A nightmare—this was a bloody nightmare, she thought madly, because there was no one in Europe who could confound her like the Earl of Kettering!
    She frowned; he casually sipped his ale.
    As a girl she had worshipped him, had prayed nightly for an older brother just like him—strong and handsome and eager to shower her with gifts and attention, just as he did Eugenie and Valerie and