The Temptation of a Gentleman Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’m envious to my very core! It’s magnificent. I could lose myself here with no trouble.”
    Suddenly she had a very clear image of herself curled up in the window seat with a book, very much at home here because it was her home. The image was troubling and completely inappropriate.
    He laughed and the sound warmed her. “I often think that, but I always find my way out.”
    He crossed to a small table and picked up a small box of pencils. “And these belong to you.” He held it out to her. “With my most sincere apologies. And Phantom’s.”
    Her eyes grew wide at his offering. There weren’t the inexpensive ones she’d lost. They were of the highest quality. “Oh no, these are too much. I couldn’t take them.”
    “ I insist.”
    She looked with greedy eyes at the pencils. Things like books and supplies were a luxury she had to fight to afford and keep in her father’s strict home. These were a treasure, and not just for their finery. What she drew with them would forever be linked to Noah and the stolen moments she had found here in his home.
    “ I thank you,” she said as she took the box with trembling hands.
    “ You are very welcome.” His smile fell and his voice grew more serious. “Now there was something else I wished to speak to you about and our time grows short.”
    Marion wrinkled her brow. He seemed so grave. “And what is that?”
    He shifted as though he were uncomfortable. “It’s about your father.”
    She thought of her father’s embarrassing scene in the salon a few moments before. How she hated it when he berated her in public, and in front of Noah especially. “What about him?”
    “ Has he ever encouraged you to marry?”
    She drew back at his unexpected question. “No. In fact, he’s kept me from the marriage market. I am two and twenty and I’ve never been allowed to have beaux.”
    “ Why?”
    She pursed her lips, unsure of what had spawned Noah’s sudden interest, yet she found herself too tired to come up with her usual excuses for her father’s behavior. “The shortest answer I can give is that he’s punishing me for something my mother did. He seems to hate me for being a part of her.”
    Noah’s face gentled. “I-I’m so sorry, Marion.”
    She started. He’d called her by her name, her given name without prefacing it with “Miss”. He was the first man outside of her family who had ever done so.
    “ I’ve grown accustomed to it,” she whispered. “But I’d rather not discuss it. It’s a painful subject.”
    He leaned closer, but this time he didn’t hesitate to touch her hand. His skin was warm and his fingers easily engulfed her own. “Of course. I only ask because I wonder if perhaps he’s brought you here for a marriage arrangement.”
    Marion leaned away in surprise, but couldn’t bear to draw her hand away from his. “I don’t understand what you mean. With whom would my father make an arrangement? He could have easily done that in our own shire if that was his intent, rather than dragging me across the country to Woodbury.”
    He took a deep breath as if he wanted to ease her into a bit of unpleasantness. “What about Josiah Lucas? Surely you’ve noticed the way he looks at you.”
    That comment drew her up short. She’d be a fool not to mark Lucas’s revolting interest. “Mr. Lucas lost his wife very recently. Perhaps he’s just coming out of mourning.”
    Or so she hoped.
    Noah snorted. “Somehow I doubt Mr. Lucas mourned his wife excessively.”
    She frowned. How and why had he come to that conclusion? “Perhaps, but your hypothesis about me makes no sense. My father and I may not get along, but he wouldn’t make a sudden arrangement without consulting me.”
    Noah looked down his nose at her. “Are you certain?”
    No, she wasn’t certain. But she couldn’t accept that Noah was right. Her own father wouldn’t wed her off without speaking to her first. Not to a man like Josiah Lucas. Why his very presence made her skin