The Scoundrel's Lover Read Online Free PDF

he whispered, finally allowing himself to say her given name. “It’s all right. He isn’t hurt, just unconscious. He’ll sleep it off and probably not even recall any of this tomorrow.”
    She stiffened beneath his touch and looked at him over her shoulder. He couldn’t tell if she was comforted or disgusted by his hands on her, but she met his eyes either way. “How can you say that? I’ve never seen my brother this way.”
    He drew her to her feet and turned her toward him, away from her unconscious brother. Then he released her, though he could still feel his warmth in his palms, his fingers, his arms, his entire body. “He drank a great deal, that is all.”
    She blinked. “How much?”
    Marcus squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment. “He can hold a great deal of liquor, so I can only imagine.”
    She fisted her hands at her sides and continued to stare at her brother. When she spoke again, her voice cracked. “I couldn’t even begin to move him by myself. Even if I could…where to take him? I couldn’t thrust this upon my mother, not when she is so heartbroken about him as it is. And Rafe has already refused to help, so I cannot take him there. And home, Crispin’s home? Do I dare leave him there alone if he is this out of control?”
    Marcus sighed. For no other person in the world would he make the offer on his mind. A fact he refused to consider overly much when he said, “You may leave your brother here.”
    She blinked up at him. “Here?”
    “Yes. He can stay in this room and I’ll be sure he is in reasonable shape to return home on his own in the morning. I’ll even have one of my men watch over him until he wakes, to ensure he doesn’t hurt himself.”
    “But—but you sent for my brother,” she stammered.
    He couldn’t help but smile slightly. “I did indeed, believing the duke would come and collect him. But you somehow showed up instead and I wouldn’t leave the duty to you. It would not be… right .”
    He almost laughed. As if she would believe him. It was obvious he did not live his life in terms of right and wrong. She had seen what went on in the rooms around them. Seen more than a lady of her station and quality should see, that was certain.
    But she did not call him on the half-truth. Instead she simply stared at him, and her tone was filled with gratitude when she whispered, “Thank you.”
    He shook his head. “Why?”
    “You are kind when you do not need to be.”
    Marcus watched her for a moment, a burst of freshness in his jaded world. Then he looked behind her at her brother. He shrugged.
    “He is a friend.” Once he had said the words, he felt compelled to correct them, because they revealed too much. “And a good customer. But he obviously cannot go on like this.”
    “No,” she agreed, and her eyes swelled with tears she fought valiantly to keep from falling.
    She failed, and one streamed down her face. Marcus couldn’t help it. He reached out and brushed it away with his thumb, his fingers cresting over her impossibly soft skin and setting him on fire once again.
     

Chapter Four

     
     
    Marcus Rivers touched Annabelle’s face, and she found herself looking up and up at him. She should have pulled away from the intimate stroke of his fingers over her flesh, but she could not.
    She had seen him before, met him before. He was a friend of her brothers’ and one she tried not to think of since he was so disconcerting to her. But now, as she met his dark green gaze full on, she could not deny that she felt things when he touched her. Those dark things she didn’t want to feel.
    But he was so close to her now and he smelled so good. Like…decadent promises and pleasure and need . She found herself leaning in, leaning closer, letting his warmth surround her, letting his breath touch her face.
    What are you doing?
    The voice in her head was so powerful, she almost feared she had said the words out loud as she jerked away from Rivers and his hypnotic,