Waking Up With a Rake Read Online Free PDF Page A

added two more lumps of sugar before she remembered he’d only asked for one.
    “A man of action, then,” she guessed, handing the cup and saucer to him and hoping he wouldn’t notice the additional sweetness. She wasn’t usually so addlepated. What on earth was wrong with her? “You’ve borne arms for the sake of our king, I’ll wager.”
    A shadow seemed to pass behind his eyes, but it was gone so quickly Olivia decided she’d imagined it. He leaned forward, elbows balanced on his knees. “I thought you said it was wicked to gamble.”
    Olivia knotted her fingers together. “A figure of speech. I didn’t mean anything by it. There is no true wager unless stakes are agreed upon.”
    “An important distinction.” He nodded. “I’ll bear that in mind. But you’re right. I was a captain in His Majesty’s forces but have since resigned my commission.”
    “Now that we have settled matters with the French, I suppose there was little to keep you thus engaged,” she said, liking him even better for his military service. “And now you meet prospective brides for royal dukes for a living.”
    “For the moment, though it should please you to know that I am not being compensated for my service. I…volunteered,” he said. “I don’t wish to shock you, Miss Symon, but I believe honesty is the best foundation for a friendship. Given your abhorrence for gambling, you may despise me for this, but I must admit that I usually do support myself by being lucky at cards.”
    Her mother would have had to whip out her smelling salts at such an admission, but Olivia was more struck by his suggestion that they might become friends.
    Was it possible that a man and woman could form such an unusual bond? She’d never heard of the like. Men befriended men at their clubs. Women exchanged social visits in their homes. The sexes rarely interacted except for courtship, and then once the wedding took place, it was an extraordinary marriage that could also count itself friendly. Even her mother and father addressed each other as Mr. or Mrs. Symon instead of by their Christian names.
    “I’ve heard plenty of cautionary tales about people who’ve squandered their living at cards, but never of anyone who kept body and soul together with it,” she said, anxious to keep this unusual conversation going. “Surely gambling isn’t your sole occupation?”
    “Not at all. I also drink and carouse and engage in any number of questionable pursuits,” he said with a crooked grin. Then he took a sip of his over-sweetened tea and the grin became a grimace. “I am, in fact, an incurable rake. A dedicated libertine. You may ask anyone.”
    “Since you’ve been so forthright, there’s no need for me to ask, is there?” She ought to have been scandalized, but instead, she was intrigued by his confession. “It’s one thing to be wicked. Another to be unabashedly so. I shall consider myself duly warned of you, sir.”
    “Good. You should be.” Something flashed in the depths of his dark eyes that she couldn’t decipher, then it dissolved when another winning smile made the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Now it’s my turn to guess about you.”
    “Very well, though I warn you there’s nothing in my life remotely as interesting as being an incurable rake and dedicated libertine.”
    As soon as the words were out, she clamped a hand over her mouth. They were unladylike in the extreme. She expected to hear a dull thump on the other side of the door at any moment. If her mother truly was listening at the keyhole, she’d undoubtedly faint dead away.
    Lord Rhys merely laughed. “You’ve made my task too easy. I perceive that you, Miss Symon, are a woman of strong opinions and do not hesitate to express them.”
    “Guilty as charged.” She buried her nose in her teacup.
    “You also have a consuming interest in something that takes you outdoors, even on blustery January days.”
    “How could you know that?”
    “A charming smattering