To Rescue or Ravish? Read Online Free PDF

and sipped some more. “Unfortunately, I can’t say what I really want to.”
    “No sense paying, then,” Bird said. “What do you want to say, darling?”
    “That my uncle connived with a horrid man to abduct and rape me so I would be obliged to marry him,” she said.
    Matt blinked. Surely she couldn’t be tipsy already, to say something so indiscreet. He craned his neck; no, she’d drunk less than half the cup of wine. “Bella, I don’t think—”
    She turned her scowl on him. “I’m not intoxicated, Matt. I’m furious.”
    Bird chuckled. “So you should be, sweeting. Now I am intoxicated, but I still have my doubts about printing that.”
    “I know—it won’t do. I shall just put a notice refuting the announcement of my engagement, which was entirely untrue. My uncle put it in without my permission.” She took another sip of wine, and another. “It’s not fair. I want to punish them.”
    Matt did, too, but if they weren’t careful, it might go far beyond punishment to social ruin, which would undoubtedly affect Bella as well, and—
    “It wouldn’t have done them the least bit of good even if Sir Reginald had succeeded in raping me,” she said.
    “Sir Reginald…?” Bird grinned.
    Matt should never have brought Arabella Wilbanks within a mile of this place. “Maybe you should keep the details to yourself, love,” he said.
    She glowered at him. “I’m enjoying myself more than I have in years . Leave me be!”
    Ah, well. It would be in the paper anyway, wouldn’t it? No chance of cramming such a lucrative cat back in the bag once Bird got a hold of it. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Matt said, and sat down again.
    A flicker of doubt appeared in her eyes—and was replaced by a veritable flame of rage. “Sir Reginald Rotherton,” she said.
    Bird went into whoops. “That pattern-card of propriety tried to rape you?” He slapped his leg. “Oh, my darlings, my dears, this is far too good to waste.” He pulled out a paper and pencil. “And who might your uncle be?”
    She took a gulp of wine, shot a defiant glare at Matt and put up her chin. “Wilbur Wilbanks.”
    Bird convulsed with laughter. Nobly, Matt resisted an impulse to hook his foot in the legs of his friend’s chair and send him crashing to the floor.
    When Bird stopped laughing enough to catch his breath, he said, “Even better! And you must be Arabella Wilbanks, also known as the Icicle.”
    Arabella’s face fell. “Is that what they’re calling me?”
    “Afraid so, darling. Cold as an icicle, and just as sharp.”
    She sighed. “I expect I deserve it, but how else was I to fend off all those annoying suitors? In spite of the temptation of my fortune, it worked astonishingly well.”
    By now, everyone in the whole blasted room was watching and listening. Matt should probably stop her from taking even one more sip of wine. He should probably muffle her. He should probably scoop her up and drag her away before she said anything else.
    Instead he just sat there, flummoxed.
    Why had she wanted to fend off her suitors? Some of them, although he hated to admit it, were quite decent fellows.
    “Luckily, Matt rescued me, but I wouldn’t have married Sir Reginald regardless,” she said. “Thinking back to what might have happened—and I can’t help but shudder at it—I’ve never been so glad that I’m not a virgin.”
    Damn it, what was the matter with her?
    Everybody laughed and cheered, and someone ordered a round of drinks and a toast to the non-virgins of England and Bella in particular. She blushed and reached for her wine.
    This was nothing like the Arabella Wilbanks he’d glimpsed and heard about over the years. This was an older, naughtier version of the Bella he’d loved to desperation all those years ago.
    Matt got to her cup first and moved it away. She rolled her eyes and addressed the others again. “I mean, just think about it. I might have thought it actually mattered . I might have felt obliged