Read Online The Notorious Nobleman by Nancy Lawrence - Free Book Online Page A

is,” she said.
    “ I see. And how will you choose between
your suitors? Will you marry the most wealthy of them so you may at
last have some of your fortune restored you?”
    That brought her head up quickly. “You make
me sound quite mercenary!”
    “ Aren’t you?”
    “ Certainly not!” she said, her temper
rising. “How can you speak to me so? You know I have nothing in
this world  Nothing at
all!”
    “ And can you think of no other way to
remedy your situation than to marry?”
    “ No,” she said, a little sadly. “I have
no means of supporting myself, I am afraid, and I have lived too
long off the kindness of friends.”
    “ You could make peace with your
father,” he suggested. “You could go to him.”
    “ I told you, he won’t have me. Don’t
you think I tried?”
    “ So it must be marriage, then. I hope
you may get what you want out the business.”
    She felt herself stiffen again. “I
shall not make demands, you know, and I am not overly nice in my
requirements. All I ask for is a man of sense for a husband, who
will provide me with a place to live. In return, I shall provide
him with a home that is refined and peaceful  ”
    “ And boring,” interpolated
Gavin.
    “ If the security of having a roof over
my head is boring, then I am content to be bored.”
    “ You will marry for the wrong reasons,
Julia.”
    “ Will I? You, I suppose, are an expert
in such things!”
    “ Expert enough to know that I shall
never marry again  for any
reason!”
    “ I do not share that luxury,” she
retorted. There had been something, she thought, a little hurtful
in the way he had spoken to her. She turned her back to him then
and made a great show of folding up the gown she had been sewing
and gathering up her needles and threads and ribbons.
    Gavin silently watched her move about the
room. Until he had made her acquaintance, it had been a long time
since he had found himself in the company of a woman of Julia
Pettingale’s caliber. Too long. He had forgotten how pleasing it
was to see a woman move with gentle beauty. He had a sudden vision
of her, gowned in finest silk, and moving with easy grace from one
guest to another in a crowded drawing room. His drawing room.
    His gaze dwelled appreciatively on her. As
she had been the first time he had met her, she was dressed very
simply in a gown that was rather out of date; yet she wore it with
a certain air of elegance that was unmistakable. No baubles or
jewels graced her ears or the slender column of her throat, yet he
thought she held her head in the same regal way she might have had
she been adorned with the crowned jewels of a queen.
    His gaze traveled upward; upward to where
that wretched cap covered her hair. He wanted nothing more than to
pluck the thing off her head and he couldn’t think of a single
reason why he shouldn’t.
    Gavin closed the distance between them in a
few easy strides and before Julia could turn about, before she even
realized he was there behind her, he pulled the cap from her
head.
    Julia swung around, her eyes wide and her
lips parted in surprise. Her hair had been pinned up into a
profusion of curls beneath the cap; now freed, the fiery tendrils
caught the light of the sun as it streamed through the window,
making her hair look so soft, so appealing, that his fingers itched
to touch it. In the soft light of the morning, her skin was like
porcelain, perfect, and clear. It would have been so easy for him
to reach out and touch her. She was so close, he could see the
little flecks of gold in the depths of her wide, green eyes. And
she looked right back at him, saying nothing.
    Before he could think, before he knew what he
was doing, he was reaching for her. “I can’t fight this anymore,”
he said, almost beneath his breath; and if his voice was gruff and
grudging, he lips, when they brushed hers, were tenderness
itself.
    Her mouth was soft and inviting beneath his
and he took his time kissing her, savoring every