Read Online Velvet Embrace by Nicole Jordan - Free Book Online

brandishing a candlestick and stubbornly declaring that no God-forsaken Frog was going to touch his wife, sick or not. Jacques, it seemed, had recommended a mustard plaster for Mattie's chest but hadn't quite managed to convince Homer that his intentions were purely professional. When Brie solved the problem by offering her help, Jacques gave her a look that clearly said she might be more intelligent than he had first assumed.
    Brie stayed with Mattie most of the morning, but she did find an opportunity to visit Patrick and allay her fears about his injury. She had no time to dwell on her own situation, though, or worry that she was risking her reputation by remaining in the same house with a man like Stanton. But she was no longer concerned that he would ruin her good name merely in order to have a topic of discussion at his club. He was not the frivolous dandy she had called him earlier, nor was he the sort of man to go bragging to his friends about his conquests. All the same, she didn't mean to volunteer any information about her identity. It really was none of his concern, after all.
    Her first reminder of the real danger Dominic represented came that afternoon. Brie had gone in search of him because Homer wanted to speak to him about the Frenchman. When she couldn't find Stanton anywhere else in the house, Brie made her way up to his bedroom and knocked tentatively on the door. She was bidden entrance at once, but the sight that greeted her when she stepped into the room brought her up short. He was shaving.
    Dominic stood before a mirror, razor in hand, a towel draped around his neck. His white linen shirt was casually opened to the waist, while a lather of soap covered his chin and one cheek.
    Brie stared at him in fascination. She had never seen a man shave before, not even her father, and she found herself wondering if it hurt to scrape a sharp blade across his face, then wondering if the dark, curling hair on his bronzed chest felt as soft and springy as it looked.
    When she simply stood there, silently gaping at him, Dominic raised an eyebrow. "Do come in. And shut the door, unless you mean for me to catch my death from the cold air you're letting in."
    Realizing where her thoughts had been leading, Brie flushed and did as she was told. She was violating propriety with a vengeance by being in a man's bedroom with the door closed, but it really was freezing in the hall. She was shivering already—although she suspected her ailment had more to do with the way his gray eyes were roaming over her than with the temperature of the house. "Homer would like you to come and check on Mattie," Brie said a trifle breathlessly. "She seems to be getting better, but he wants your opinion."
    Turning back to the washstand, Dominic casually resumed his shaving. "You would do better to call Jacques. He is the expert, not I."
    "I know, but Homer has more faith in your judgment. Your coachman is French, you see."
    Dominic eyed Brie in the mirror. "What does that have to say to anything?"
    "Homer doesn't care for Frenchmen. He actively dislikes them."
    That seemed to amuse Dominic, for his mouth twisted in a grin. "I doubt that I would be much of an improvement then since I'm half French myself."
    His admission surprised Brie. Most people of French heritage were far shorter than he. Her own mother, for one, had stood just over five feet tall. Stanton had to be at least six feet. But then he might have gotten his height from the English side of his family.
    "Homer really doesn't mean anything by it," Brie said, feeling a need to defend the old man. "It's just that he lost several members of his family in the war. His only son died fighting the French in Spain and two of his grandsons were killed at Waterloo."
    "Ah, that explains it, then," Dominic said cryptically. When Brie gave him a puzzled glance, he returned her gaze in the mirror. "That explains why Jacques has had so much trouble getting information about you. All of the Dawsons