The Duke's Undoing (Three Rogues and Their Ladies) Read Online Free PDF Page B

comfortable wife for me. Her brother’s position in Parliament would be a great help to my career. But the zest is gone out of living. I dream such dreams of you that I feel unfaithful to her.”
    Leaning down, he kissed her once more, gently at first but it grew in heat as his passion overcame him. In spite of the fact that Gregory kissed very well, Elise fought him off, attempting to hold on to the perspective she had gained. Unfortunately, her loneliness had been so dire that his kiss was like a banquet after her self-starvation.
    “I’ve missed you devilishly,” he said, his voice hoarse. He scooped her up and carried her in his arms to the sofa, where he proceeded to take all the pins out of her long black hair. Stunned at the proprietary action, indeed at the entire scene that was unfolding, she heard him say, “I always wanted to see it this way. I have wanted to feel the sensation of your hair falling through my hands.” Gathering it together, he wound it about his fist and then kissed it and laid it forward over her shoulders, shrouding her breasts. He looked at it cascading to her waist. After a moment, he pulled her to him and began to kiss her face and neck with unwonted fervor. She felt him fumbling at the back of her dress and discovered that he was unbuttoning it!
    This brought her out of her numbed daze. How dare he even think such a thing? Jumping off his lap, she stood before him, her fists clenched. “You, you, you cad! What do you think you are doing?”
    His brow furrowed in abject distress. “I want to marry you!” He fished in his pocket and came up with her ring, holding it out to her.
    But all she could see was Violet’s face, stoically fighting tears. “If you break Violet’s guileless, innocent heart, I will never speak to you again! You are right. Thomas will be a boon to your career. Now, go! I believe I am in more danger from you than from Robert.”
    Leaving him, she threw open the door and walked out of the room. She hastened up the stairs before he could come after her.
    Why have I spent so much time grieving over him? He is a worthless scoundrel! Poor Violet. I doubt I have done her a favor .

CHAPTER FIVE
    IN WHICH APPEARS A SURFEIT OF FIANCÉS

    Ruisdell was certainly not a spiritual man, nor even prone to premonitions or the slightest bit of intuition. But if he had not wanted to keep the experience private, he would have sworn an oath in court that what happened to him on the fifteenth of June, 1809, in Covent Garden Theater was not the result of wishful thinking or any kind of superstitious claptrap.
    It was the same voice he had heard in the park, referring then to the mystery woman. It seemed to him now that it was a real voice, a familiar voice, disembodied, but nevertheless real. It said, Your time is at hand, Ruisdell. That is the woman you’re going to marry .
    He was staring straight across the hall at the time, using George’s opera glasses in an effort to relieve his ennui by detecting some amusing action on the part of his aristocratic fellows.
    Then he saw her. He knew he had seen her before. If the voice were to be believed, she was the veiled woman from the park, but he knew her from some other place and time. She was not the sort he would refer to as a diamond of the first water. She was too far out of the common way, which dictated that blondes were the fashion. Add to this the fact that, judging by the fichu covering her breasts, she was certainly virtuous. He could also swear that the woman shone, as though surrounded by a peculiar halo, so that the voice could leave him in no doubt to whom it was referring.
    “George, old fellow,” he said, handing him the opera glasses, “who is that delicious brunette across the way? Dressed in dark blue with pink rosebuds in her hair?”
    After a moment, his friend chuckled. “I knew she would catch your eye. That’s poor Elise Edwards. This is her first time out since her break with Chessingden, I believe. And she