Read Online The Seduction of Lady X by Julia London - Free Book Online

“Don’t you want to marry a woman you love ?”
    Mr. Tolly’s jaw clenched. He swallowed hard. Olivia believed she understood him—he’d offered in haste and he regretted it. In a wretched moment, he’d seen a woman in distress and he’d believed, as Olivia had, that all would be lost for Alexa if someone didn’t step in to prevent it.
    “Mr. Tolly . . . you have been so good to me,” Olivia whispered. “Alexa has ruined her life, but you cannot allow sympathy for her to ruin your life forevermore. My heart breaks for my sister, truly it does, but she and I cannot drag someone as good as you—”
    Mr. Tolly suddenly reached across the table and covered her hand with his, squeezing gently. His touch startled Olivia right out of her thought. She stared down at his hand, twice as big as hers, at his fingers wrapped securely around hers. “You will make yourself ill,” he said low. “And surely you know me well enough to know that I am not an incautious man. You must understand that I did not make such an offer lightly. I need a bit of time to think of another way that she and I might avoid it and yet save her reputation—and yours.”
    The feel of his hand on hers was powerful in a way that made Olivia’s heart pound. There was so much in his touch—protection, assurance. Do not let go my hand, never let go my hand. “It’s so unfair,” Olivia murmured, her gaze fixed on his hand, on a small freckle on the back of his thumb. “Where is she? Is she all right?”
    “She is at the dowager house.” Mr. Tolly made no effort to remove his hand from hers, and Olivia imagined that he was infusing her with his strength. She could almost feel it flowing between them.
    “She is understandably upset and confused,” he continued, “but she will be quite all right. Lady Carey, look at me,” he commanded softly.
    Olivia didn’t want to look away from his hand. She wondered when that freckle had appeared on his thumb, if he’d spent his youth in the sun. She wondered so many things about him—
    Mr. Tolly squeezed her hand, and she reluctantly lifted her gaze to his.
    “Do not fret,” he said. “I will see that your sister is well cared for.”
    “I have no doubt that in your hands, she will be better cared for than she has ever been. But I fret for you, sir. What of your personal affections and desires? You are a young man, scarcely older than me. You will want your own love and children, and yet you will throw all that away?”
    Mr. Tolly’s gaze dropped to Olivia’s mouth, and she instantly felt a draw from her toes, spiraling up her legs and into her spine, warming her cheeks. Her heart skipped; her fingers curled around his.
    “If I may be so bold,” he said, as if weighing each word, “my personal affections lie with a woman I can never marry for a number of reasons. If it comes to it and I marry Miss Hastings—and I am not convinced that it will—you must believe that the arrangement will suit me perfectly.”
    The sound of Edward striding down the hall reached them; Mr. Tolly’s hand slid across the table and into his lap. He continued to hold her gaze as Edward entered the breakfast room. Just as Edward looked up from the papers he was holding, Olivia picked up her teacup and brought it to her lips, hiding behind it. It was empty; she daintily replaced it in the saucer and surreptitiously glanced at Mr. Tolly.
    “Olivia, you may take your tea to your rooms,” Edward said dismissively.
    She stood. “Good day, Mr. Tolly. Edward.” She could feel Mr. Tolly’s gaze follow her as she walked around the table. Her heart was fluttering as she walked out of the room, her head filled with the image of those gray eyes, and a small shiver was sneaking its way down her spine at the intensity with which he had looked at her.

CHAPTER FIVE

     
    S unday evening, Harrison had a small contretemps with Miss Hastings, his would-be fiancée.
    “You sound like a husband, Mr. Tolly, and the vows not even