Read Online The Diabolical Baron by Mary Jo Putney - Free Book Online

Lord Radford has been so very particular in his atten tions. I think he must be ready to make an offer.”
    “Don’t be silly, Gina. He isn’t really interested in me.”
    “No? Then why has he called almost every day for the last few weeks? And why does he ask you to stand up at every ball you’ve been to? I swear the man must be bribing one of the maids to find out where we’ll be.”
    Acutely distressed, Caroline started tracing the inlaid patterns around the lute’s sound hole. The deeper her feelings, the more difficult it became to discuss them, and Lord Radford’s continuing attentions were affecting her in ways she found impossible to describe.
    She had developed a sense of fatality about him. At every affair they attended, eventually his dark, elegant form would appear and he would claim her for danc ing or conversation. His inexplicable attentions had increased her popularity as half the bucks and dandies in London sought to discover her mysterious charms. It had been a deeply uncomfortable period, continually meeting strangers, feeling the speculative eyes, hearing murmured conversations stop when she entered the ladies’ retiring rooms.
    “I don’t know what he wants of me, Gina. But think: can you not feel Gideon’s love for you? Isn’t there a ... a warmth, a sense of caring coming from him?”
    Gina thought about that.  Then a soft smile slowly spread across her face. “Of course. I know exactly what you mean. It’s like his arms are around me even when he is across the room.”
    “Well, I don’t feel that from Lord Radford. I don’t even think he likes me particularly. I feel like some kind of ... of chore he must accomplish.”
    Jessica listened to the conversation with a small frown between her brows. “Perhaps it is just that he is unlike any other man you have known. Fashionable gentlemen don’t display their feelings, but why else would he court you except for love?”
    “Perhaps he is using her to make one of his mis tresses jealous,” Gina said helpfully. “It certainly isn’t for our money! And there are plenty of experienced women around for more rewarding flirtations.”
    Caroline laughed, her worried mood broken. “If you mean what I think you mean, you have no delicacy of mind whatsoever. But I must admit that theory makes more sense than any other. It may even be true, because several ladies have been at great pains to inform me, in the most considerate way, that I am not at all his lord ship’s type. It is my one solace.”
    Her sister shook her head mournfully. “I really can not understand you. Three-quarters of the women in London would give their family jewels to be in your position, and you act as if you have been singled out for deliberate persecution. He is always most charming, he is wonderfully handsome, and such a fortune! And you, my bird-witted sister, are not even flattered by the attention. What is it about him that bothers you?”
    “It’s difficult to explain,” Caroline said hesitantly. “It is not what he does, but what he is—a man used to effortlessly controlling everything around him. I can feel the leashed force in him. He dominates me without even trying. And I do not wish to be dominated. Being ignored is much more comfortable.” She laughed a tri fle nervously. She was trying to make light of it, but what she said was true: Lord Radford did not have to do anything to make her shrink; his mere presence was enough.
    Jessica was uneasy about Caroline’s remark, but un certain how to reply. She could understand how a forceful, arrogant man would make her shy niece un happy. She was reminded of a Spanish exhibit she had seen of a lion and a lamb living together in a cage. It was an impressive sight, but she rather thought the lamb had to be replaced regularly.
    While she knew very little of Lord Radford, the pic ture she was getting was very lion-like. She sighed to herself; if she had gone out in society these last years she might have met