Read Online Wallflower Gone Wild by Maya Rodale - Free Book Online Page A

Olivia could just imagine it: she would probably purr and caress his arm while promising sin with her gaze. Could Olivia do that? Her heart started to pound. Nerves were certainly going to get the better of her. “I thought I just needed to be seen in the vicinity of a rake.”
    “You are too good for your own good,” Prudence declared.
    Mustering her courage, Olivia lightly pressed her gloved fingertips on Lord Gerard’s sleeve, getting his attention. He turned. Slowly. And then looked down at her.
    Olivia peered up at the face that launched a thousand sighs among the ton. His features were sharply defined and utterly noble. He peered down at her with a jaded expression. Lord Gerard’s eyes were heavy-lidded and dark, making her wonder if he were tired or bored or hiding something.
    How on earth was she supposed to speak to him? Let alone purr and caress him?
    “Excuse me,” she said, ever polite. “If you wouldn’t mind, my lord, handing a glass to my friend and me . . .” She’d begun to stammer.
    By now a few people had turned to glance at the unusual sight of Lord Gerard paying attention to one of London’s Least Likely. She couldn’t flee, even if she wanted to.
    Good manners compelled him to honor the request of a lady. Even if he glanced nervously at the said lady, as if expecting a lecture on good manners.
    “As you wish,” he murmured in the most devastating way. Olivia thought she ought to have been so daring sooner. Lord Gerard was speaking to her and fetching her a drink!
    He handed Olivia and Prudence a glass of lemonade.
    Olivia smiled prettily up at him. That she could do. Promising sin with her smoldering gaze would have to wait until she could practice.
    He warily returned her smile. Was she making him nervous? Why did that prospect make her giddy?
    She should say something witty or flirtatious. If only she could wink without contorting her face into an unappealing expression. Instead, she sipped her lemonade in what she hoped was a seductive and inviting manner. Again, something they really ought to have covered at Lady Penelope’s School for Young Ladies.
    “Thank you,” she said.
    “My pleasure,” he replied. There was a faint upturn at the corners of his mouth. This was ever so slightly amusing to him. But at least he wasn’t dismissing her outright.
    “Are you enjoying this evening?” Olivia asked.
    “Yes. And you?”
    “Yes,” Olivia said, a touch too breathlessly. Lord Gerard noticed, too, which made her blush.
    Truly, this could be the beginning of a grand romance if she could only think of something perfect to say. Then he’d raise his brow, intrigued, as rogues were known to do—as Emma had informed them from the novels she read. Then they’d waltz and years of dancing lessons wouldn’t have gone to waste after all. They’d fall in love, quickly, and he’d wickedly suggest they elope to Gretna Green and—
    “Oh!” Olivia cried out as someone —Prudence— bumped into her, causing her to spill her lemonade all over the front of Lord Gerard’s pale blue silk waistcoat. She fearfully glanced up at him; his expression was as inscrutable as ever, though that mere hint of a smile was now definitely a frown.
    “I’m so sorry!” she said, also terribly sorry to have ruined their almost-moment. “You have my sincere apologies.”
    “It’s all right,” he said. But it wasn’t really. He’d been doused with lemonade and would have to retire early or smell of lemons or take his waistcoat off. The thought of that brought a furious blush to her cheeks.
    She pulled a handkerchief from her reticule ( young ladies are always prepared ) and attempted to dry off Gerard’s waistcoat, which of course resulted in her hands upon him . . . and his waistcoat, which was his abdomen, really. Olivia was aware that it was firm under her touch and that this was the first time she’d had such intimate contact with a man.
    Although it didn’t feel intimate—not with dozens of