The Temptation of a Gentleman Read Online Free PDF

seemed to feel the sentiment behind them so fully. “Perhaps you will meet her before you depart. I’m sure she would appreciate your sympathy, as well.”
    And he realized he meant the offer. Not only did he feel his mother would take comfort in Marion’s genuine sympathy, somehow he wanted Tabitha to approve of her.
    Folly. It was absolute folly. And if he wanted to solve his case, he would put it aside forever.
    ***
    The tea was perfect. But how could it not be? Everything at Linton Green was perfect from the food to the efficient servants to their host. Noah’s house felt like a home, despite its elegant exterior. It was a place where she could imagine a family laughing or children running through the hallways with wild abandon. Children with bright blue eyes.
    “ Miss Marion?”
    She jumped at Noah’s voice, embarrassed he’d interrupted her little fantasy.
    “ Marion!” her father spit out with venom. “Answer the Marquis! Don’t just sit there as if you’re daft, girl!”
    Marion flinched. “Yes, my lord?”
    “ Yesterday your pencils were, er, eaten . Today I’d like to remedy that destruction. Would you accompany me to the library for a moment?” Noah turned to her father with a decidedly aristocratic glare. “If you have no objection, Mr. Hawthorne.”
    For a moment, Marion’s father looked at Noah without answering, then glanced from at Josiah Lucas. Strange, it seemed to Marion he was trying to determine which of the men was a greater threat. She could have told him it was Noah he should try to please.
    Finally, her father answered, “I don’t see the harm. Though Marion wastes too much time on her silly sketches. If her pencils got ruined, I say all the better.”
    With effort, Marion held her tongue. Her father had never encouraged her to educate herself, and that only made her crave art and learning all the more.
    “ Hmm…” Noah pursed his lips with displeasure. “We shall only be a moment.”
    Marion rose, wondering why her hands shook just the slightest bit when she took the arm Noah offered her. As they left the room, she threw a glance over her shoulder and saw the anger in Josiah Lucas’s eyes.
    Refusing to allow the two men ruin this moment, she said, “You really do have a lovely home.”
    “ Thank you. It was my father’s pride and joy. I grew up here.” Noah paused and his face turned solemn, just as it had earlier in the parlor. “And he died here.”
    Marion slowed her pace. “Yes, I can see you’re still pained by that loss. I’m sorry to see that.”
    Noah looked at her sharply. “I beg your pardon?”
    It was the first time he had taken that arrogant tone with her. The one that said he was a peer of the realm and not to forget it. She stopped walking, forcing him up short at her side.
    “ I’m only trying to tell you I understand. I lost my mother at a very young age. The loss of a parent is something you cannot help but carry with you. I’m sure you must still feel that heartbreak, just as your mother does. Only you can’t show it because you’re a man with responsibilities.”
    His face softened as he reached out to her, but his large hand stopped just short of touching her cheek. Her heart skipped to a faster beat as she felt the warmth radiating from his skin. Suddenly he drew back as if burned.
    “ You are a fascinating woman, Marion Hawthorne.” He hardened his face as he took her arm again. “And here is the library.”
    She stepped away from him to look up at the tall bookshelves, brimming with books of all kinds and years. She spun in a small circle, craning her neck to see higher and higher up the endless shelves.
    “ Oh my,” she breathed.
    He didn’t answer for a moment and she tore her gaze away to find him staring at her with a strange expression. One that made a thread of heat curl low in her belly.
    Finally, he cleared his throat. “I see you approve.”
    She shoved away her body’s strange reactions and nodded vigorously. “Approve?