Twice the Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page A

door in her hand and closed it on him.
     
      He looked at the door for a moment, then descended to take Faro’s reins from a waiting groom. So she wanted him to admit defeat and scuttle away without putting up any kind of fight at all. Obviously she had no idea who he was. For a bright chit, she’d made a miserably simple mistake. He didn’t like to lose. A female who kissed like that even when taken by surprise had no right to be so stuffy. Evangeline Munroe could definitely stand to be taken down a peg or two. Or twelve.
     
      With a grim smile he sent Faro in the direction of Grosvenor Street and home. When she arrived at the Gaviston soiree tonight, she would realize that she’d just engaged in a duel with a master.
     
      Chapter 3
     
      “You’ve met the Marquis of Rawley?” LeandraHalloway whispered from behind her fan. “I didn’t know he was even back in London.”
     
      “Where was he, then?” Evangline asked, curious in spite of herself.
     
      “That depends on who you ask,” her friend returned, still keeping her voice low and conspiratorial. “Some say he and his latest mistress were at one of his estates in Scotland.”
     
      Undoubtedly this latest mistress went by the name of Daisy. She nodded. “Oneof his estates?”
     
      “Oh, yes. He has several. But my cousin says that Rawley wasn’t in Scotland at all, that he was actually in France up to something or other.” Leandra fanned herself. “I have to say, I don’t care where he’s been. All I know is that if it had been me he fell on, I would be the Marchioness of Rawley by now.”
     
      “Oh, please. You would be welcome to him.” Evangeline waved as another of her friends entered the ballroom. Thankfully Rawley hadn’t yet appeared; perhapshe’d gotten drunk again and forgotten that he wanted to dance with her.
     
      “But you do know that his mother was a Spencer. He owns half of Devonshire, and at least four estates in Scotland.”
     
      “Wealth is well and good, but I can’t speak for his manners, because he doesn’t have any.” Evangeline took another sip of lemonade; it was tepid, but in the stifling, crowded ballrooms he felt grateful for any refreshment at all.
     
      Yes, Rawley had a charming smile, and very handsome features, and a devastating kiss, but none of that made him the sort of man she would wish to have pursuing her. He clearly thought himself irresistible, and that self-importance could make him nearly impossible to guide or to control, in addition to his other myriad faults. Still…“He’s a Spencer, then?”
     
      “You don’t even know his given name, do you? I thought you must be mortal enemies already, the way you’ve been talking about him, Gilly.”
     
      “Please, Leandra.” He’d been crossed from the list too quickly for her to have learned anything but the very broadest strokes.
     
      Her friend dimpled again. “Very well.” She cleared her throat dramatically. “He’s Connoll Spencer Addison, Viscount Halford, Earl of Weldon, Marquis of Rawley. And I’m glad you don’t like him, because Ido . Of course, he’s never asked me to dance with him.”
     
      “How do you know him, when you haven’t been in London any longer than I have?”
     
      Leandra shrugged. “Mama and I made a list at the beginning of the Season,” she admitted, lowering her voice still further. “You know, of men whose attentionsI might encourage. His name was right at the top. It was very disappointing that he wasn’t even here.”
     
      Hm. Obviously her and her mother’s requirements had been very different from the Halloways’. It made sense, though; Leandra’s family needed money, while her own necessities ran toward—how did her mother phrase it?—power and respectability tempered with malleability. Rawley seemed the antithesis of that. And she wouldn’t have a habitual drunk about, anyway.
     
      “Enough about Rawley,” she exclaimed, flipping her hand.