What A Rogue Wants Read Online Free PDF Page B

into a furrow over
narrowing eyes, quashed her uncertainty. Leave it to her to break
into an anxious sweat on a cool day.
    Lord Grey’s haughty
aristocratic expression hadn’t changed a whit from last year. Yet,
he had changed.
Clearly he was not the preening peacock she’d thought he was when
they’d first met. His skin was unfashionably bronze. His hair―inky
black and touching his shoulders―was in disarray. But what a
beautiful mess it was. He needed a shave, and that scar above his
lip…The man looked like a virile knight of old. The queen had, for
once, been perfectly correct. Madelaine sighed and Lord Grey
blinked. She blinked back. Dear God, had she been staring? The
unusual quietness told her she had.
    “ Here you are.” Lord Grey
held out her easel.
    “ Thank you,” she
automatically replied and took the easel while praying he was smart
enough to keep their prior meeting secret.
    “ No, thank you.” Lord
Grey’s voice washed over her with its warmth.
    “ For what?” Blast. She
should have let the conversation die. The queen was frowning at
her.
    Lord Grey leaned forward on bent knee,
the fine tan cambric of his coat stretched tight over his broad
shoulders.
    “ It’s not every day that I
get to come to the rescue of a beautiful lady-in-waiting.” He
plucked her sketching utensil from the ground and handed it to
her.
    As she reached to take her instrument
from him, his fingers brushed hers and her skin tingled in the wake
of his touch. She rubbed her tickling fingertips together and
racked her mind for a coy, yet proper reply, to his flattery.
Before she could speak, Grace did. “I, for one, am not the least
surprised you had to help Lady Madelaine. She’s a terrible lout.
Why just last night, she tripped Lord Carlisle whilst they were
dancing.”
    It was entirely too bad
the opportunity to take revenge on Grace hadn’t presented itself
earlier. An angry blush singed Madelaine’s cheeks. It was true
she had tripped
Lord Carlisle on the dance floor, but it had been purposely. His
hands had kept “accidentally” brushing her bottom though she had
quite sternly told him to quit. But she couldn’t very well explain
herself with the truth. She ground her teeth at the futility of her
situation.
    Lord Grey stood, his powerful frame
extending in one fluid motion. He glanced down at her. Was that a
conspiratorial smile stretching his lips? “I find it hard to
believe someone who looks as graceful as Lady Madelaine could cause
anyone to trip, yet I find I hope it’s true.”
    “ And why is that, Lord
Grey?” asked the queen.
    “ If I might be bold, Your
Majesty?”
    “ Of course you
may.”
    Madelaine gawked at the queen. How
amazing she looked with a genuine smile on her face. She was almost
pretty.
    Grey moved to the side of Madelaine’s
chair, his thigh brushing her arm. “I’ve an affinity for awkward
people, being one myself.”
    She would have grinned up at him for
his kindness, but the queen was studying her with an inscrutable
look. Whatever was Queen Charlotte thinking? Before Madelaine could
ponder the likely dire possibilities, the queen stood and Madelaine
scrambled to stand along with all the other ladies-in-waiting. The
queen smiled and addressed Lord Grey. “You’re too kind, Lord Grey.
I happen to know from watching you ride and joust you have the
grace of a prowling panther.”
    “ Your Majesty―” He took
the queen’s proffered elbow. “―you flatter me.”
    “ I flatter no one,” the
queen replied with a laugh. “Just ask Lady Madelaine.”
    Good gracious. If she answered
truthfully it would make the queen look bad, yet if she lied, the
queen would know it. The stubborn part of Madelaine that had gotten
her into so much trouble was leading her there again. She didn’t
want to look weak.
    “ Lady Madelaine?” Lord
Grey’s gaze met hers.
    She inclined her head toward Queen
Charlotte. “You are my queen, therefore you are
correct.”
    “ And if she wasn’t