Read Online The Rogue's Reluctant Rose by Daphne du Bois - Free Book Online Page B

think me a devil, Miss Barrington,” he remarked, and only the slightly bitter note in his voice betrayed him. Araminta shot him a look of surprise. She had not expected him to speak as he had done. A jibe perhaps, or a snide, suggestive comment. Those were becoming familiar territory to her, unsettling as she still found the man. But she was not sure how to reply to the bitterness. Twisting her fingers in the folds of her pretty walking gown, she looked at him, at the sadness that flickered momentarily in his eyes, only to vanish the next moment, like a dream upon waking.
    “It… it is a reputation of your own making,” she replied, quietly and unsteadily, unsure that her reply was the correct one, but refusing to bow down under his inscrutable gaze.
    “Hah. So it is.” Chestleton announced, once more the remorseless rogue.
    Araminta felt confused at his changeable demeanour. “What is it that you want from me, Lord Chestleton?” she asked him, deciding that she was too overwhelmed to dance around the issue.
    “Nothing that you do not want from me, if only you’d admit it. You should cease the absurd game you are playing with that baronet. How long do you think you can deny what is between us?”
    Her lips thinned in disapproval and her gaze became frosty. “I want nothing but peace from you, Marquis. Sir Timothy is a good man, and I am playing no games with him. None that will matter, anyway. I do what I must, and I need not explain myself to you. He will give me affection and a solid marriage. What is between us , as you put it, is nothing but a momentary insanity. It is flimsy and fleeting and you can offer me nothing but dishonour and infamy. You will offer nothing more, and I will not be some man’s mistress.”
    “You cannot deny — ”
    “Ah, but I can. You might exist in your own little world of hedonism, my lord , but in my world, my decisions affect the lives of others, of people I love, and I will not gamble with that. So there is nothing between us and never shall be. Now, I suggest you take me back. Kitty must be beside herself by now. And do so at a respectable pace, if you please.”
    Jasper Devereaux was struck by the steady determination in her voice, even more so now that he knew some of what was behind it. He had intended merely to have a light flirtation with the pretty girl, to chase away the boredom, until the mystery of her was resolved and he found himself tired of her. He had seen the desire written across her face. But Araminta was like a puzzle box. He may have solved one riddle, uncovered one answer, but a hundred new questions now presented themselves before him.
    He had thought her little more than a fortune hunter, keen on getting her own wish at the expense of others. Yet what he found was strength and love for the people she was set on protecting. As she lectured him, her delicate face was lit with a sadness and purity, like dew drops on a rose. A light shone out of her eyes, and he found himself wanting to have her, to kiss her, more than ever, as his stomach twisted at her words.
    They drove back in silence, and Jasper forced himself to push away such absurd, fanciful notions. What he felt was nothing more than fascination for an imagined idealisation of the woman, a mirage that could not exist. He would rid himself of this momentary lapse of judgement by claiming her for his own, and proving to himself that she was nothing other than what he had first believed her to be.
    Araminta was lost in her own thoughts. All this time, she had labelled the Marquis of Chestleton as nothing more than a callous, hedonistic rake. Yet for the briefest moment she had glimpsed something in his eyes — something greater, more than the image he always presented. Try as she might, she couldn’t forget what she had seen, and she could not stop mulling over it, wondering what it was. Her thoughts felt scrambled inside her head and her feelings were all a shambles. She sneaked a few glances at his