Read Online Unveiled by Courtney Milan - Free Book Online Page B

desire.”
    He tipped her chin up, and the afternoon sunlight spilled over the rim of her bonnet, touching her face with warmth.
    â€œNo.” Margaret wished she could snatch that wavering syllable back. But what he said was too true to be borne, and nobody knew it better than she. Her own wants and desires had been insignificant. She’d been engaged to her brother’s friend before her second season had been halfway over. She’d been a pale, insipid nothing, a collection of rites of etiquette and rules of precedent squashed into womanly form and given a dowry.
    His voice was low. “Damn their bonnets. Damn their rules.”
    â€œWhat do you want?” Her hands were shaking. “Why are you doing this to me?”
    â€œMiss Lowell, you magnificent creature, I want you to paint your own canvas. I want you to unveil yourself.” He raised his hand to her cheek and traced the line of warm sunshine down her jaw. That faint caress was hotter and more dizzying than the relentlesssun overhead. She stood straight, not letting herself respond, hoping that her cheeks wouldn’t flush.
    You matter. You are important. He was doing it again, but this time, he was doing it to her. He was subverting some deep part of her as easily as he’d won over Mrs. Benedict. What he’d whispered seemed more intimate than the touch of his glove against her cheek. It wasn’t fair that this man, this one man who had utterly destroyed her, would be the one to pick her deepest desire out of the maelstrom of her wants.
    â€œAm I asking so much, then? I only want you to think of yourself.”
    â€œThat’s sophistry. You know you have your sights set on a great deal more.”
    He smiled in wry acquiescence. “For now, Miss Lowell, I’d be happy with nothing more from you than a little defiance.”
    She looked up into his dark eyes. A little defiance, he called it. Just a little defiance, to believe that she mattered.
    But she needed more than a little defiance to call upon now. She couldn’t let this continue. A few more days of this, and he might begin to convince her of his sincerity. When he looked at her with that fierce light in his eyes, she could almost feel the world bending about him. She could feel herself drifting to land at his feet, ready to do his bidding. If he continued to pay her those extravagant compliments, she might actually start to believe him.
    She took his hand where it touched her cheek and moved it firmly to rest against the buff fabric of his breeches.
    â€œMr. Turner, you fail to understand.”
    He lifted one eyebrow, and Margaret stood upstraight and glared at him. “I’m not a cat. I’m not a canvas. And I’m certainly not about to become an enterprise for you to cosset and charm into docility. You want a little defiance?”
    His head cocked at an angle, as if he couldn’t believe the words she was saying.
    â€œGood,” she said. “Then you may try this: leave me alone. For good. Don’t talk to me. Don’t browbeat me. And for God’s sake, don’t try to seduce me.”
    He looked at her quizzically. For a second, she thought she’d pushed him too far. She was sure that his pleasant manner would evaporate into scorn. That he would force that kiss on her, no matter what he’d said before.
    Instead, he sat back on his horse, touched his hat and disappeared down the track.
    Â 
    I T HAD BEEN MORE than a week since Ash had been sent on his way, but Miss Lowell was never far from his thoughts—or indeed, from his person. Right now, in fact, she was a mere two rooms away. He could sense her presence, tantalizingly close.
    â€œNo. Keep your elbow tucked close to your side.” His brother’s instruction wafted down from the hall, both enticing and damnably irritating.
    Ash stared at the pages in front of him, more determined than ever to concentrate on the letters before him and to block out