A Disgraceful Miss by Elaine Golden Read Free Book Online

succumbed to after her release.
    He carefully tucked a stray curl behind her ear and rose to pour a drink, anything to clear his head.
    Two fingers of brandy looked pretty shallow, so he measured out a third then stoppered the cut-crystal decanter. He paused at the window and looked into the inky night that had absorbed the tiny town-house garden. There wasn’t anything to see, save the glow of the odd carriage clattering down the alley to a neighbor’s mews, but it suited his mood just fine and he sipped leisurely from the glass.
    He’d done it now. Crossed some invisible threshold between admiration and declaration. He’d known it the minute he let her pull him back into her embrace, and he’d let it happen. Like the tumblers of a well-crafted lock, the facets of his life—what he wanted and needed most—fell into place and he’d known. Known that everything that he was to become began and ended with this warm little bundle of a woman.
    For a man who had spent nearly his entire life alone, it was a stunning proposition to consider that his world was not his own, that he didn’t have to be alone any longer. He could choose her, claim her for his and fill the void.
    So, when she had wrapped her silken arms about his neck and hugged him to her breast and whispered “please” so prettily, he did choose. He decided then and there that he was going to marry Angelica, whatever it took to make it so.
    Selfish bastard that he was, he chose Angelica. God help her.
    And what would her father have to say on the matter?
    The door to the drawing room opened and for one heart-stricken moment he thought that she was trying to sneak away from him, away from meeting his eye and acknowledging what they’d just done.
    “You’re still here, Vine? Charlotte’s fine. Didn’t Angelica tell you the news?”
    Julian turned from the window, the sudden arrival of Angelica’s father clearing his musings as effectively as a bucketful of snow dumped over his head.
    “Indeed, I was just availing myself of your best brandy to toast your good fortune. Congratulations!”
    Daniel grinned as if he’d never stop and slapped Julian on his back. “I’ve only just left her, sleeping finally. I have to tell you, it’s amazing. This morning when I awoke, it was just another day and that fast—” he snapped his fingers “—everything’s changed. It’s another second chance, and don’t I feel overwhelmed with blessings!” Daniel walked over and claimed the brandy that Julian poured, and they clinked their glasses together. “Would that you receive such blessings, my friend.”
    “Indeed,” Julian said. He eyed Daniel and wondered if this mellow mood would lend itself to the news that his friend wanted to wed his overprotected daughter.
    “What…?” Daniel frowned at the sofa, and Julian swallowed hard. God, could her father see the fading flush of passion on Angelica’s cheeks?
    Then Daniel’s face cleared, replaced by a doting glow. “Oh, did she fall asleep? She’s probably overtired from the worry over Charlotte.”
    Julian held his breath and his words, unwilling to lie.
    Daniel knocked back the rest of his drink. “Well, I suppose I should send the dowager a note that Angelica’s to spend the night again, and then put her to bed. Never got to do it when she was little, so it’s a queer, happy feeling I get when I look at her in repose like this. All innocent and sweet.”
    Julian choked and nearly swallowed his tongue. She was sweet, all right, but not so very innocent any longer, thanks to him.
    How in the world could he broach the subject?
    Just as Daniel leaned over Angelica to pick her up, she shifted and then sighed. “Oh, Julian.”
    The soft sound was like cannon fire in the quiet room, the house still as if the world had ceased around them. Her eyes were closed, but the tiny smile of a well-satisfied woman now curved her lips. A smile that no innocent could sport.
    Daniel froze then jerked back as if stung. He