Read Online Daring Miss Danvers by Vivienne Lorret - Free Book Online

a notorious rake—or at least he had been—and any sensible woman knew not to lose her head over a smooth-tongued devil.
    “You’re joking,” Delaney said, taking the words out of Emma’s mouth. “I didn’t have a clue, and I don’t feel like a dunderhead admitting it either. I always thought Emma disapproved of Rathburn and his reputation.”
    She nodded, opening her mouth to respond, but Merribeth spoke first while brushing the crumbs from her lap. “Of course, he’s vowed to change all that. He must have, otherwise Emma would never have accepted him. It’s quite romantic if you think about it.”
    Romantic? Hardly. But she couldn’t come out and tell them the circumstances. After all, word must never get back to the dowager or this entire charade would be for naught.
    Now, they were all waiting for her to speak, gazes glued to her.
    “Tell us what it was like,” Merribeth said on a wistful sigh. “Did he ask your father first?”
    At least with this, she could tell the truth. “He spoke with both my parents. And then they called me into the study.”
    Delaney took a biscuit. “Were you surprised?”
    That was putting it mildly. “Oh, yes. For the life of me, I couldn’t fathom why they were all together, watching me carefully as if I might suddenly break out into song.”
    “And then . . .” Merribeth had stars in her eyes. Oh, if she only knew the truth .
    “Then, my father spoke and stated the reason for Rathburn’s visit.” She drew a breath, feeling her pulse rise as if it was happening all over again. “I could hardly believe it.”
    Penelope tutted. “Oh, come now, you must have suspected something. Especially with the way he looks at you.”
    She shrugged. “He looks at every woman that way.” As if he were slowly peeling off the layers of their clothing with his eyes, she thought crossly.
    “Not the way he looks at you.”
    Again, she stared at Penelope in complete disbelief. “He’s a terrible flirt.”
    “True. He does have a way of offering a compliment that makes one feel . . . exposed.” Merribeth blushed but received a nod from Delaney.
    Even Penelope laughed. “But he’s easily forgiven when it’s obvious he isn’t serious. Not like the way he is with Emma.”
    Emma shook her head. Because of the announcement, they were seeing things that simply weren’t true. “He likes the game. The play of back and forth.”
    “Now that I think on it, when he teases and flirts with you, his entire demeanor changes,” Merribeth said as she took a chocolate biscuit and nibbled the outer rim. “He turns serious.”
    “I would say predatory,” Delaney added in a scholarly tone, as if the notion had been hers from the beginning.
    “Or maybe possessive.”
    “Oh, yes,” Merribeth agreed with Penelope’s statement. “That is the perfect description. After all, he kept away your other suitors last Season.”
    A fact for which Emma would not soon forgive him. “That was Rafe’s fault for asking Rathburn to look after me while he was away. He simply took matters too far by hovering over me at every ball.” And glowering at every gentleman who came near.
    “That’s when he introduced you to the dowager.” Delaney tapped her finger against the side of her mouth thoughtfully. “He was laying the foundation to build on later.”
    “No. It was to keep me occupied and on edge so that he had the freedom to flirt with other ladies.”
    She received three headshakes. “Surely, you can no longer deny it now. He must have expressed how he truly feels about you when he proposed.”
    Emma hesitated. She hated lying to her friends, so the only thing she could do was focus on what actually happened. “He did say that his grandmother approves of me.”
    Her friends gasped in unison. “The dowager . . .”
    “Approves of you.”
    “Of course she would.” Penelope leaned forward and squeezed her hand. “You could see it plainly in the announcement.”
    “She doesn’t approve of