Read Online Once Tempted by Elizabeth Boyle - Free Book Online Page B

about to admit.
    And yet, there was something fundamentally different about the Marquis of Bradstone.
    Oh, there were the superficial things. Take the scar on his jaw, for instance. Or his plebian hairstyle.
    But what had stopped her was the light in his eyes as he stared down the barrel of Jemmy’s pistol. A black-hearted gaze that held a courage of character she’d never thought Robert Parnell, Marquis of Bradstone, could ever possess.
    Olivia closed her eyes and let out a long, frustrated sigh. How could a man have changed so much? Didn’t anyone else notice? She’d heard of his head injuries, but she suspected there was more to his changes than a good rap on the head could have provided.
    And if that wasn’t enough, he had changed physically. His shoulders had broadened, his stance matured. There was something compelling about him, something that lit the ashes of her imagination as if they were dry kindling instead of cold dreams.
    If it was possible, Robert had become even more masculine, more attractive, more desirable.
    Desirable?
    Her lashes sprang open, and she was about to borrow another of Jemmy’s expressions when she spied a small stain of light creeping through the racks of clothing.
    Following it like a beacon, she pushed aside a selection of heavy, winter wool cloaks and found herself staring at what appeared to be the outline of another door. Catching up her valise with one hand, she felt around until she found the latch and ever so slowly twisted it.
    The door opened, and inside the adjoining room a man let out a surprised squawk. Unlike the formidable Aquiles, this fellow was like a whisper of wind on a calm day. Spry, short, with thinning gray twists of oiled hair, he sprang from his chair, where he had been reading a book. “Dear me! Oh my!” he exclaimed. “Who are you?”
    “Hired I was for the night,” she said, using her best country accent. “Got lost on the stairs looking for the necessary and a place to change into my workin’ apron. Don’t know how I ended up in the wrong place.” For effect, she hugged her small valise as if it contained the most valuable apron ever to grace Bradstone House.
    The man frowned, then hustled forward. Grabbing her by the elbow, he shoved her toward a similar door on the other side of the narrow room. “Lost, indeed,” he said, propelling her out into the hallway. “That was his lordship’s room you so carelessly wandered into. He would be incensed if he discovered you in there.”
    He’ll be even more angry when he finds me gone, Olivia wanted to add.
    Her unwitting rescuer shoved her out into the dark hallway. “Down this corridor are stairs that will lead you to the kitchen. Ask one of the girls there to show you the servants’ area.” He stuck his nose in the air and shut the door in her face.
    Olivia smiled and followed the man’s instructions almost to the letter. When she got to the kitchens, she continued on by walking out the back door.
    “You aren’t the only one with nine lives, my lord,” Olivia mused as she slipped into the darkness of the garden behind the house.
    Grinning at the ease of her escape, she continued until she found herself on a nearby street corner. There she paused and looked out into the lonely and dangerous darkness of London, a single question begging to be answered.
    What do I do now?
    “Robert, do come here,” his aunt said, interrupting his conversation with a rather inane woman and her equally stupid daughter.
    Lady Bradstone smiled broadly at his companions. “Lady Colyer, Miss Colyer, I see you have met my dearest son. I hope you are conspiring to steal his heart.” She patted the blushing girl on her arm with her fan.
    Miss Colyer tittered nervously at such an intimation, while her mother beamed as if her daughter’s elevation to marchioness was nothing more than a formality at this point.
    For a moment it struck him that the woman locked in his closet would never make such a nit of herself. Olivia