A Most Sinful Proposal by Sara Bennett Read Free Book Online Page B

possibility of Von Hautt…”
    “Von Hautt? You mentioned that name before. You accused me of being his spy. Who is Von Hautt?” Marissa demanded, clearly requiring an answer.
    “A fellow searcher for the Crusader’s Rose,” Valentine replied briefly. “He is a hot head. I do not believe him to be dangerous but he can be a nuisance.”
    “I am not afraid of danger.” She spoke with scorn, lifting her chin, and once more Valentine found himself completely captivated. This was the woman he wanted at his side as he searched for the rose; it was a pity she claimed not to care for his quest.
    But that didn’t mean, given a little time and effort, that he could not change her mind.
    “You see, Kent, Miss Rotherhild isn’t afraid of danger,” Jasper said, with a droll look.
    “I doubt we will suffer more than a few rose thorns in our fingers,” Valentine replied, forcing his gaze away from Marissa, and beginning to shuffle the papers back into a pile.
    He should feel guilty. But it wasn’t as if he was going to steal Marissa from his brother—well, not unless she wanted to be stolen—and besides, George was showing a singular lack of interest in her. She was his houseguest and it was up to him to keep her entertained, that was all.
    But he knew he was telling himself lies. WhenMarissa smiled at him with her warm, dimpled smile he felt himself go hot all over. She was making him do things, think things, he couldn’t remember doing or thinking in years.
    Truly, he was entering dangerous waters.

Chapter 5
    D uring dinner, the expedition was discussed again, and when Jasper informed Lady Bethany of their intention of setting off the following morning for the village of Montfitchet, she said that if they were going searching for a rose then she had better come, too, to keep an eye on them all.
    Jasper expressed his pleasure at her joining them and raised his glass in a toast. “To the quest!”
    “To bringing the Crusader’s Rose home to Abbey Thorne Manor!” Valentine added.
    “Where it belongs,” Marissa finished, before she thought to stop herself.
    He smiled knowingly at her over his glass and she felt her heart give an odd, uneven thud.
    He’d removed his neck cloth again, and the neck of his shirt was open. When he leaned back in his chair she could not help but notice his shoulders and the way his hair curled about the strong column of his neck.
    He was very masculine.
    He was the sort of man women noticed and watched and dreamed of marrying.
    Marissa felt embarrassingly warm and flushedbeing in his company, but she refused to accept there was anything out of the ordinary with that. Even the fact she wanted to touch him, and she wanted him to touch her, was surely not so very wicked. Marissa knew about fast women, she and her friends had discussed the subject at length, and decided that as long as one only used one’s feminine attributes on the man one loved and wanted to marry, then it was acceptable to be “fast.” The question was, did her wanting to run her hands over Valentine’s shoulders and back and wind them around his neck fall within those guidelines?
    He wasn’t the man she wanted to marry. He wasn’t the man she was in love with.
    Like most girls of her station Marissa was a virgin. Although she had had her share of stolen kisses, some more pleasurable than others, she’d never experienced the dark pleasures of the flesh. What happened in the marriage bed was vague, and until she met George she’d not considered it overmuch, but she was sure he would make her laugh and they would muddle through somehow.
    Now she found herself thinking of Valentine instead of George and she didn’t feel like laughing one little bit.
    She was shocked by her own thoughts, but she was also intrigued and unsettled.
    They’d only just met!
    She hadn’t wanted to be part of his search for the Crusader’s Rose, but when Valentine spoke of it the passion sparked like fire in his blue eyes. In response,