Whisper of Jasmine Read Online Free PDF

your shaving lotion is quite nice, although I probably oughtn’t tell you that either.”
    She reached out and took his punch cup and drained it.
    “Slow down, child. You’ll be legless in ten minutes if you keep that up.”
    She widened her eyes and he took the cups, putting them down on the floor. “Come on, pet. You need some fresh air, and I want to get you alone.”
    “Oh, why? Are you going to try something caddish? I should so enjoy that,” she murmured.
    “Well, I wasn’t, but if you insist.”
    “I don’t insist. I mean, if you don’t want to be a cad with me,” she started. She trailed off as he stripped off his coat and laid it across her shoulders. “What are you doing?”
    “It’s going to be cold out there. You’ll catch your death in that dress, however delectable you look in it.”
    “I don’t think any man has ever said I look delectable before.”
    “Then they’re fools.” He nodded towards the ladder.
    “You go up first so I can enjoy watching your bottom.” She widened her eyes at the words that had slipped out. He smiled.
    “I want you to go first so I can catch you if you slip.”
    “Oh, you are a gentleman.”
    “Every inch of me.”
    She turned and gripped the ladder carefully, placing her feet slowly upon the bottom rung. She hadn’t had four cups of punch before she’d seen Gabriel. The one she’d drunk in front of him had been her first. But she needed an excuse for the things she wanted to say to him, the things she wanted to do to him. Nice girls, properly brought up girls, polite girls didn’t tell men they’d just met that they’d like to feel their bottoms or kiss them senseless, no matter what Aunt Dove said. But those were only a few of the thoughts swimming around in Evie’s head, and she thought it best to give him at least half an excuse for what she might blurt out.
    She ascended cautiously, but Gabriel was right behind her, large and reassuring. She wouldn’t fall, and even if she did, there was simply no way Gabriel would let any harm come to her. She emerged at last into the brisk night air, and she gasped as she stepped onto the roof. Above them, a thousand stars shimmered against the night sky. A low, pearly moon rose above the rooftops, and somewhere not far away, from another party came the sound of music, an orchestra this time, with rich, throbbing strings.
    He slipped his arm around her waist and gathered her close to his body.
    “What are you doing?”
    “Dancing with you,” he told her, easing her into a slow waltz. “Don’t you hear the music from the neighbours’ party?”
    She couldn’t hear anything above the blood beating in her ears for a moment, but then it came, faint and haunting and lovely. “What is it?”
    “It’s ‘Salut d’amour.’ Elgar. Pretty piece.”
    “It’s sublime,” she murmured, relaxing in his arms. “The most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
    He moved her about the small rooftop, guiding her around chimney pots and wires and stacks of bricks, holding her carefully out of danger as if she were the most precious thing he had ever seen.
    Evie tipped her head back. “I’ve never seen so many stars in the city,” Evie breathed.
    Gabriel came to stand behind her. “Must be our lucky night.”
    “‘A night of nights,’” she agreed.
    “What did you just say?”
    She turned to face him, flapping a hand. “Oh, nothing. It’s embarrassing, really. It’s a quote from Peter Pan . You must have seen it as a child.”
    “About a thousand times,” he said slowly. “It was my favourite play. I took Peter and Wendy with me on my last Himalayan expedition.”
    “You went to the Himalayas? With Peter Pan?”
    “And Wendy and Hook and all of the Lost Boys.”
    “What on earth were you doing in the Himalayas?”
    “Trying to climb an excessively elusive mountain.”
    “You’re a mountaineer!” Her eyes were brilliant with excitement.
    “For my sins. I’m also an archaeologist and explorer. I’m