With This Ring Read Online Free PDF Page A

reflected on the empty feeling that shimmered beneath the surface of Monkcrest Abbey. "Perhaps he's bored."
     
    Oapler 2
    Something glided through the shadows, a phantasm
    which had been disturbed by her presence and which
    could not now return to its deep slumber.
    FRom CHAPTER Two oF The Ruin BY MRs. AmELiA YORK
    lou came all this way, braving highwaymen, bad inns, and a storm just to ask me about the Forbidden Rings of Aphrodite?" Leo tightened his grip on the carved edge of the marble mantel. "Madam', there is little that can astonish me, but you have managed to do so."
    The damned Rings. Impossible.
    He had heard the ridiculous rumors, of course. He cultivated gossip on matters that touched upon the subject of antiquities the way a farmer cultivated crops. Recently he had heard that after two hundred years the mysterious Forbidden Rings had reappeared, but he had discounted the tales.
    His source, a dealer in antiquities, claimed that the
     
    A m a n d a
    Forbidden Rings had materialized in a pawnshop in London, of all places, then had just as quickly vanished again, presumably sold to some gullible collector.
    Leo had put no credence in the authenticity of the supposed relics, nor of the reports he had heard, because there had been no confirming evidence. The world of antiquities was rife with fantastical claims and whispered tales of strange events and rare objects. Sorting out the truth from the fraudulent was his life's work. He had learned long ago not to accept anything at face value. It was a rule he applied not only in his professional investigations but also in his personal life.
    As legends went, the Forbidden Rings of Aphrodite ranked among the more obscure. As far as Leo was aware, only a few scholars such as himself and a handful of collectors had ever heard the tale. Such arcane lore was not the subject of casual drawing-room conversation. In his experience, it rarely succeeded in attracting the interest of the fashionable.
    But tonight he was confronted with a woman who was not only aware of the legend, she was intent on learning everything she could about it. Of all the possible explanations for a late-night visit from a lady he had never met, this was the most far-fetched.
    But, then, nothing about this meeting was proving to be predictable, he thought grimly. For starters, it annoyed him that he could not take his gaze off Beatrice. To avoid the appearance of staring at her, he had resorted to watching her out of the corner of his eye. It was ludicrous. There was no logical explanation for the unwilling fascination he felt. Itwas as if she secretly practiced some form of mesmerism on him.
    Beatrice sat in one of the two chairs that had been arranged in front of the fire. It was difficult to believe that she hadjust completed a long and tiringjourney. There was an aura of feminine vitality about her that drew his attention the way nectar drew bees.
    W i t h T h i s R i n g
    He was no connoisseur of fashion, but her air of stylish elegance was unmistakable. Her golden-brown hair was drawn up into a sleek knot that emphasized the pleasing shape of her head and the graceful curve of the nape of her neck. The small corkscrew curls that bobbed at her temples had an artfully disheveled appearance, as if they had accidentally slipped free of their pins.
    The bodice of her gown revealed the gentle curves of small, firm breasts and a slender, supple figure. The flounced skirts of the long-sleeved, copper-colored gown fell in graceful folds around her trim, stocking-clad ankles. The soft woolen fabric was very fine. The high-waisted gown fit so perfectly, he knew it must have been designed by a highly skilled modiste. A very expensive modiste.
    The gown was a piece of the puzzle that did not fit. There was no other evidence of a great deal of money here. Beatrice had not arrived in a private carriage with liveried footmen and a multitude of attendants. Her coachman had, in fact, been hired only the previous day.