The Christmas Carrolls Read Online Free PDF Page A

foreleg.
    Joia was so enraged she was surprised that blasted feather wasn’t smoldering on her forehead. Why did it have to be Comfort to see her in such an unfavorable light? She snatched the hat off her head and threw it to the ground. “No, I am not all right! I have been insulted and abused and—”
    “And I bet your hand hurts like the devil. You should put it on ice as soon as you reach your room.” Comfort was trying to fend off the tears he could hear behind her anger. Those magnificent blue eyes might be flashing fire now, but they’d soon be red and weepy if he knew anything about women. He took up Nelson’s reins and placed his other hand under her elbow to lead her on. “By-the-by, that was a flush hit. My compliments on your science.”
    “I did manage to draw his cork for him, didn’t I?” Joia said with a chuckle, earning her a high mark for courage in Comfort’s book. The beauty had bottom, at least, to make up for her total brainlessness, going off alone and unprotected. He thought all debutantes, especially gorgeous heiresses, were taught better than that.
    “Should I be sending a cart out for Master Oliver, also?” he asked, bringing a touch of embarrassed color to her pale cheeks.
    “Only if he doesn’t return by nightfall, the gudgeon.”
    “Not such a gudgeon for trying to secure his future, assuming that’s what he did, of course.”
    “What, you don’t censure him for making unwanted advances?”
    “How was he to know they were unwanted, after you’d led the poor fool on? Yes, and Dubournet, too. What did you expect when you rode off without a groom? You practically issued an invitation.”
    Joia gasped. “I never!”
    Now Comfort was angry, and he didn’t want to ask himself why. “What, back to Miss Prim and Proper? You were playing the tease, and well you know it. You set out to fire up their blood, then got in a snit when you smelled smoke.”
    “How dare you!”
    “It’s only the truth.” Lord Comfort knew because his own senses had been stirred by her flirtatious glances, her swaying hips and daring necklines. Hell, she looked so adorably disheveled this very moment that he could barely resist taking liberties himself. Then she stumbled—her boots were not made for walking—and he immediately put his arm around her, which was a grave challenge to his self-discipline. “And I dare the same way those other unfortunate fools dared.”
    Comfort’s kiss wasn’t like Oliver’s sloppy mauling or the Frenchman’s assault. It wasn’t like any of the stolen kisses she’d suffered over the years, perhaps because this one was not so much stolen from her as given to her. The viscount’s lips were warm and soft, tingly and hard, all at once. Joia’s feet didn’t hurt anymore because she couldn’t feel them, only a delicious spreading glow. This kiss was all she’d ever dreamed one should be—and it meant absolutely nothing to a practiced rake like Comfort.
    Joia stepped back. The viscount released her immediately, with a quizzical look on his handsome face. This time Joia defended herself the way Papa had taught her to do if she was in extreme danger. Oh, she was.
    * * * *
    “Well, puss,” Lord Carroll told her when Joia was through complaining about his guests and his grooms, “seems to me you went about the whole thing wrong. Not that you need to fret about it happening again, for it won’t, by George.” Two broken pencils already lay scattered on the desk in front of the irate earl. “But the fact is, if you were trying to bring Comfort up to scratch, you were far off the mark. I told you, I doubt he’ll step into parson’s mousetrap till he’s ready to set up his nursery. By all accounts, you put paid to that notion.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    Lord Carroll decided the gentlemen should all go target shooting the next morning. “The ladies are starting to decorate for the hunt ball, so we’ll do better out of the house. You, too, Oliver. Fresh air might