Read Online Too Scandalous to Wed by Alexandra Benedict - Free Book Online

dismissed the sentiment.
    “Leave it alone, Peter. I don’t belong with Henrietta.”
    An hour later, hungry and tired, the skating party quit the ice and headed for the cozy comforts of home.
    Sebastian, too, trailed after the crowd, dodging the children’s snowballs—and Peter’s. He was about to wallop his pestering brother over the head, when he noticed one member of their group was unaccounted for.
    Henrietta.
    Sebastian looked back at the pond to find her skating alone. Hands clasped behind her back, her cape fluttering in the breeze, she gracefully twirled on the ice, humming, enjoying the solitude, no doubt.
    He turned away to give her peace, when the sharp sound of cutting ice filled his ears.
    “Will you join me, Ravenswood?”
    Sebastian peered over his shoulder again. Henrietta had skated to the pond’s edge, her cheeks flushed with rosy life, her breath icy clouds on her plump red lips. Vigorous exercise heartily agreed with her, it seemed. Even her eyes sparkled like golden syrup.
    “I wouldn’t be very pleasant company, Miss Ashby.”
    She let out a husky laugh. Though it was cold, the frigid air making her voice scratchy, Sebastian still sensed a peculiar jolt in the pit of his belly at her smoky chortle.
    “Rot, Ravenswood! Besides, you need the practice.”
    She winked at him. A playful wink that struck a chord of…arousal in him? Preposterous. He could not have these kinds of feelings for the girl. It was simply impossible. She was a delightful scamp. Always had been. She had not changed that much in five months. Nor had he, surely.
    Sebastian looked back at the skating party, now fading dots on the horizon. “Really, Miss Ashby, I think it best if we both return to the house.”
    “Oh, I’m not ready to retire. But you go on ahead, if you must. Know this, though, you leave a friend vulnerable in the wilderness.”
    He flicked a brow upward at the wilderness bit, for the house was in perfect view of the pond, but otherwise did not protest. Instead he sighed and rested his sore rump on the frozen log once more. “Then I suppose the duty falls upon me to guard you, Miss Ashby—from the wilderness, of course.”
    “I like that.” With a haughty air, she admonished, “You’ll sit there, on that icy lump, rather than skate with me? I warn you, Ravenswood, a friend might start to feel slighted.”
    “I assure you, Miss Ashby, I’ve no intention of affronting you.”
    “I’m glad to hear it.” She smiled and moved off again, shouting, “Now put on your skates!”
    Why, the bossy little chit! When the devil had she sprouted such an officious disposition? Better yet, why had she sprouted such an officious disposition? What was the girl up to?
    “Would you like me to come ashore and help you with your skates, Ravenswood?”
    “That won’t be necessary, Miss Ashby,” he all but growled, as he set to work strapping the bothersome skates to his boots once more. Blast it! How the devil had he gotten himself into this mess—again?
    With an unsteady air, Sebastian made his way back onto the ice, and quickly found himself surrounded by Henrietta.
    “Here,” she said. “Take my hand.”
    And before he could protest, she clasped him by the hand and secured her other palm to his waist.
    Sebastian stiffened at the intimate embrace. Never before had the girl touched him in such a way. He’d been so careful in the past to avoid physical contact, not wanting to encourage her misplaced adoration. But now that she had him in her arms, a bewildering warmth seeped through his blood.
    “You and I have never danced before,” she said, as she waltzed across the ice with him—leading, at that. The impudent chit. “Why is that, Ravenswood?”
    Because you’ve always hounded me for your husband, that’s why .
    But he fibbed instead. “I’m a very poor dancer, Miss Ashby.”
    “A poor dancer. A poor skater. Poor company. Do you expect me to believe you flourish at nothing?”
    “That’s right,