The Desires of a Countess Read Online Free PDF

life. Behind her, she heard Simon set her drink
down on the table with a clink. If only he’d done that in the first
place she never would have touched him. She shook away the memory.
“I’m so glad you made it through the torrent.”
    Harriet eyed her with a questioning
gaze that slowly shifted to Simon. At her perusal, she let out a
gasp of “Oh my,” under her breath. Ginny tossed a look over her
shoulder and had to agree. The man was sinfully
handsome.
    “ The torrent has eased,”
Harriet said, shaking off whatever surprise she felt and giving
both occupants of the room a bright smile. “But I’m glad to have a
skilled driver. The roads can be treacherous on a night such as
this.”
    Ginny linked arms with her friend. Her
own shakiness began to fade with Harriet’s strength.
    “ Then it’s good you live so
close by. May I present Mr. Simon Webber? He’s the man Henry named
as trustee to Jack’s entailed inheritance. He’s only here for a
short while.”
    She finally looked up and saw that
though Simon bowed slightly in Harriet’s direction, his gaze was
still fixed firmly on her face. It was disconcerting enough that
she lost all thread of thought.
    “And I’m Harriet Percy,” Harriet finished for her
after a few awkward moments had passed. She gave Ginny a hard glace
out of the corner of her eye. “My late husband was a Squire in the
shire.”
    Simon turned from Ginny to smile
kindly at Harriet. “Mrs. Percy, it’s an honor to make your
acquaintance. I’m so sorry about the loss of your husband. It’s
good that you and Lady Westdale can support each other through your
grief.”
    With a shrug, Harriet released Ginny
and held out her hand. As Simon placed a kiss on the top of her
glove, she said, “Ginny is the best friend I’ve ever known. I’ve
heard very much about you.”
    “ Really?” Simon sent an
intrigued smile in Ginny’s direction. She hardly noticed it, for
she was entirely focused on his hand. The one that still gripped
Harriet’s even though Simon had done his duty and greeted
her.
    “ Let go,” she muttered under
her breath. How she hated the little twinge of emotion in her
chest. Almost as much as she hated the surge of triumph when he
followed her silent order and released her friend’s
hand.
    Ginny smoothed her skirt and wished
she could straighten her emotions so easily. These distractions
weren’t helping her cause at all. “Shall we adjourn to the dining
room? I believe Ingram is eyeing us from the door with that gleam
in his eye that tells me the cook is ready for us.”
    “ Very well.” Simon smiled at
the two women, obviously waiting for Ginny to decide which one’s
arm he should take.
    While propriety dictated that he
escort her as lady of the house, somehow she doubted her reaction
to his touch would be any different than it had been earlier. The
thought of feeling that shock of awareness again was terrifying.
But as her eyes drifted to her pretty friend, Ginny felt the stab
of something akin to jealousy. Cursing herself, she swept past
Simon and into the hall, leaving little doubt that he should take
Harriet’s arm. But she didn’t have to watch.
    ***
    Simon made a show out of stabbing his grouse and
slowly cutting a slice from the breast. It could have been an
aardvark on his plate for all he cared. The only thing he seemed
capable of concentrating on was the alluring young woman who sat a
few chairs down from his own.
    Virginia.
    No, Ginny. Her friend, Mrs. Percy had
called her that, and it fit her. It put him to mind of the girl she
must have once been before she’d become colder. But why had that
happened? And why did she continue to hide herself beneath that
cloak of ice? In the Green room he felt the heat she kept hidden.
He wanted that heat. And he still did.
    He stole another glance her way and
swallowed hard as she took a slow sip of wine. She darted her
tongue out to catch an errant drip that clung to the curve of her
lip. It was as if every move