Temptations of Anna Jacobs Read Online Free PDF

heavy bag from her, then led her back into the room. “I’ve been going over Simon’s notes on the case. As he requested,” he added.
    Anna barely heard his words, for her body was all too conscious of his hand at the small of her back, sending frissons of sensation shooting through her, to her most vulnerable parts. This physiological reaction had never been taught by any of her professors . . . she could only conclude that she was reacting to him, to his touch, to the scent of his shaving soap. Funny, she’d never taken notice of the way her brothers smelled. Nor had she ever been particularly aware of a man’s hand on her back. It wasn’t an especially intimate touch, but rather a completely innocuous means of escorting her forward.
    “That will be all,” she managed to say to the butler.
    Rutherford nodded and closed the door behind him looking rather relieved to be removed from the situation.
Coward.
    “Sit.” Drew offered the empty chair across the table from where he’d been sitting.
    She took it without questioning. “Precisely what are you doing here?” she asked.
    He gave her a lopsided grin, or what she supposed was a grin. It was halfhearted, at best. He returned to his seat.
    She leaned forward to see the papers he had spread out on the table. “Those are my brother’s notes,” she said. “His notes on the Ripper murders.”
    “Indeed.”
    She eyed him for a moment, but he said nothing more on the matter. Then his words echoed in her mind.
I’ve been going over Simon’s notes on the case. As he requested.
    He looked far too comfortable sitting here in her bother’s study. Not to mention the man wore no cravat or tie—rather scandalous for a man of his birth. Perhaps it was the time he’d spent in prison, as she imagined even a day spent in that hovel could strip a man of his civility.
    Her eyes were drawn again to the place where his cravat should have been. It was a small swatch of his neck she could see at the opening of his shirt, nothing more. Yet the peek at his flesh was ridiculously distracting.
    As if he was inviting perusal of his body, he leaned back in this chair, bracketing his fingers across his lean stomach. Good heavens. She was the one being ridiculous. A man’s chest was certainly nothing to get that excited about. After all, she was going to be a physician. She had a more than passing familiarity with the male form. However, nothing in her texts had prepared her for how disconcerting it was to see the chest of a living man to whom she was not related.
    “Did you say that Simon had requested you read his notes?” she insisted, forcing herself to look at his face.
    His brows rose slowly. “Indeed. I am to familiarize myself with the crimes. I cannot very well work on the investigation if I am unfamiliar with the finer details.”
    “But you said you were not going to accept the assignment,” she said.
    “No,
you
said that. I merely didn’t argue with you,” he said, and when he smiled at her, his perfect white teeth gleamed in mockery.
    She opened her mouth to argue, but realized he spoke the truth. She had hurled accusations at him, but the fact was she had no notion of whether he had accepted the offer. The last she had heard on the matter, Simon had intended to ask and did not expect the man to accept. Then Simon had been sent off to Scotland and she’d assumed Drew had said no.
    Drew still grinned at her, looking rather proud of himself. “So then you are working for Scotland Yard?” she asked, ignoring the transformation the smile made to his face. There was absolutely nothing appealing about him, she reminded herself. When he did not answer, she added, “I can be discreet.”
    “I am, though it is not common knowledge outside of the Yard,” he said.
    “Indeed.”
    Simon had obviously set all of this in motion. She knew Rutherford would not give Drew entrance and access to Simon’s private notes without her brother’s consent. So it appeared Drew