Read Online Slightly Tempted by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mary Balogh
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he said. "You know very well that Aunt Rochester would have been breathing fire and brimstone tonight even before you stepped off into one of these avenues and disappeared from sight. And while she was doing that, Wulf would have been dripping icicles. You would have been home in bed by now, and Rosthorn would have been chiseling ice chips out of his liver."
"Well, they are not here," she told him, "and no one appointedyou my guardian, Alleyne. Do you not have anything better to do with your evening than watch me enjoy myself? There must be a dozen ladies and more falling all over their feet in their eagerness to dance with you."
Even Morgan would concede that her brother was devastatingly handsome, with his dark good looks and slim figure, even if hehad been afflicted with the prominent Bedwyn nose. She was, in fact, the only one among them who had escaped it.
"I promised Wulf I would keep a brotherly eye on you," he said, "and it is beginning to look, Morg, as if I had better make thattwo eyes. Rosthorn clearly has designs on you."
"Nonsense!" she said. "We have merely enjoyed each other's company for a short while this evening. And heis a gentleman."
"Well, there you are wrong," he said, pokering up and looking disconcertingly like Wulfric for a moment. "In all but birth, that is. The man has a decidedly shady reputation, Morg. He has been on the prowl on the Continent for years, not always in the best company, and rumor has it that he left England under some cloud in the first place."
Morgan held her peace.
"Wulf wouldnot consider Rosthorn eligible, you may be sure," he said.
"Eligible?" she said haughtily. "Must every man have marriage on his mind when he invites a lady to stroll with him, then?"
"He had better not have anything else on it," he said fiercely. "Not when the lady is my sister. I thought you were in love with Gordon."
"He grows tedious," she told him. "He is handsome enough to turn any girl's head, but he boasts and he postures. I keep trying to make allowances for his youth, but then I remember that he is four years older thanI am."
He chuckled and looked his old self again.
"I know I can trust you, Morg," he said, squeezing her hand to his side. "We Bedwyns may be ramshackle, but we do know what is what. But youare an innocent, you know, even if you hate to hear it, and sometimes innocence can be a dashed dangerous thing. Promise me you will be careful around Rosthorn? I'll have a word with him if you wish."
"If you do," she said, bristling fiercely, "I'll borrow one of Freyja's famous left hooks and rearrange your nose, Alleyne. Of course I'll be careful. Not that there is any need. Lady Caddick is a perfectly adequate chaperon, and I have a brain in my head."
He laughed and cuffed her jaw lightly with his closed fist.
"I think I'll keep my nose as it is, then, if it is all the same to you," he said. "Shall I take you back to Lady Caddick? I daresay Gordon is panting for a dance with you."
She nodded and wondered what he would say-and do-if she told him this whole entertainment had been conceived and organized for her benefit. And that she had gone quite deliberately into the forest with Lord Rosthorn and allowed him to kiss her there-even though she had known very well that he had nothing but dalliance on his mind.
Alleyne would conjure up his very own fireworks display to rival the one in Vauxhall Gardens. He would probably take the Earl of Rosthorn apart limb from limb and lay out the pieces across the forest floor.
And what wouldWulfric say and do? The idea really did not bear thinking of.
But she was not going to start feeling guilty. No harm had been done. Quite the contrary. A wily, practiced rake had thought to toy with her, and she had turned his weapons against him and come away from the experience quite unscathed. She was rather proud of herself.
Perhaps the Earl of Rosthorn, who really was a quite despicable man, would think twice before wasting his time and money on a
"Well, they are not here," she told him, "and no one appointedyou my guardian, Alleyne. Do you not have anything better to do with your evening than watch me enjoy myself? There must be a dozen ladies and more falling all over their feet in their eagerness to dance with you."
Even Morgan would concede that her brother was devastatingly handsome, with his dark good looks and slim figure, even if hehad been afflicted with the prominent Bedwyn nose. She was, in fact, the only one among them who had escaped it.
"I promised Wulf I would keep a brotherly eye on you," he said, "and it is beginning to look, Morg, as if I had better make thattwo eyes. Rosthorn clearly has designs on you."
"Nonsense!" she said. "We have merely enjoyed each other's company for a short while this evening. And heis a gentleman."
"Well, there you are wrong," he said, pokering up and looking disconcertingly like Wulfric for a moment. "In all but birth, that is. The man has a decidedly shady reputation, Morg. He has been on the prowl on the Continent for years, not always in the best company, and rumor has it that he left England under some cloud in the first place."
Morgan held her peace.
"Wulf wouldnot consider Rosthorn eligible, you may be sure," he said.
"Eligible?" she said haughtily. "Must every man have marriage on his mind when he invites a lady to stroll with him, then?"
"He had better not have anything else on it," he said fiercely. "Not when the lady is my sister. I thought you were in love with Gordon."
"He grows tedious," she told him. "He is handsome enough to turn any girl's head, but he boasts and he postures. I keep trying to make allowances for his youth, but then I remember that he is four years older thanI am."
He chuckled and looked his old self again.
"I know I can trust you, Morg," he said, squeezing her hand to his side. "We Bedwyns may be ramshackle, but we do know what is what. But youare an innocent, you know, even if you hate to hear it, and sometimes innocence can be a dashed dangerous thing. Promise me you will be careful around Rosthorn? I'll have a word with him if you wish."
"If you do," she said, bristling fiercely, "I'll borrow one of Freyja's famous left hooks and rearrange your nose, Alleyne. Of course I'll be careful. Not that there is any need. Lady Caddick is a perfectly adequate chaperon, and I have a brain in my head."
He laughed and cuffed her jaw lightly with his closed fist.
"I think I'll keep my nose as it is, then, if it is all the same to you," he said. "Shall I take you back to Lady Caddick? I daresay Gordon is panting for a dance with you."
She nodded and wondered what he would say-and do-if she told him this whole entertainment had been conceived and organized for her benefit. And that she had gone quite deliberately into the forest with Lord Rosthorn and allowed him to kiss her there-even though she had known very well that he had nothing but dalliance on his mind.
Alleyne would conjure up his very own fireworks display to rival the one in Vauxhall Gardens. He would probably take the Earl of Rosthorn apart limb from limb and lay out the pieces across the forest floor.
And what wouldWulfric say and do? The idea really did not bear thinking of.
But she was not going to start feeling guilty. No harm had been done. Quite the contrary. A wily, practiced rake had thought to toy with her, and she had turned his weapons against him and come away from the experience quite unscathed. She was rather proud of herself.
Perhaps the Earl of Rosthorn, who really was a quite despicable man, would think twice before wasting his time and money on a