Alex's Angel by Natasha Blackthorne Read Free Book Online

street’s paving stones. The sound of smashing glass echoed loudly. He reached into his pocket and fished about.
    Nothing.
    “Well, I’ll be double-damned.” He whistled low. He’d left home today with two hundred dollars. He’d been looking forward to some quality female companionship—he fingered his ribs and winced—or at least he had been before the fight.
    When had the little cut-purse cat done it? Most likely when Dalton had distracted him by challenging him.
    Who would have dreamt, once upon a time, that it would all come to a pass like this?
    In his mind’s eye flashed a smooth-faced seventeen-year-old boy with ghostly blue-grey, fever-glazed eyes. The rasp of that boy’s coughs resonated in the silence.
      You deserved it, you shirking coward , the inner voice chided him.
    It was always there. Tormenting him. Lying.
    “No, I’ll not feel guilt! It was a rational choice. No one can fault me—they weren’t there!”

Chapter Three

      He was watching her, silently, and it was setting her nerves jangling far more than the carriage rattling along on the paving stones of the street. Emily had never been out on her own at night, and certainly had never been out alone with a man. She’d never had any suitors at all, for that matter.
    Grandmother hadn’t thought much of the male sex as a whole and she’d been of the firm opinion that no one could ever be good enough for her only granddaughter. No one was going to take her beloved Emily away from her. She had seemed to expect that Emily would remain unmarried and live with her forever.
    Now Emily had spent a whole evening away from home and in the company of a charming, handsome gentleman. She had made the choice to actually leave the Blue Duck with him. The sense of freedom in that was heady.
    “I’ve made a decision.”
    Alex’s deep voice, smooth as silk, cut into her thoughts. She looked up at him and he held her gaze with his as he scooted closer on the carriage seat. Any sense that she had control over the situation vanished. She held her breath and tried to suppress the panic beating in her blood.
    “A decision?”   Was that hoarse voice really hers?
    “Yes.” He reached up and lifted one of her curls off her shoulder in a casual, proprietary gesture. He pressed the curl to his lips, then let it drop. “I’ve decided to let myself fall in love with you.”
    It was such an absurd comment that she gave a shaky laugh.
    “You think that’s funny, eh?” He caressed her hair. Though clearly teasing her, there was an underlying edge of presumption in the way he handled her, as if she was his for the asking. Yes, that would be the way of a gentleman with a woman he assumed to be a harlot. He brought the lantern close. Looking over his merchandise?
    He held a curl up to the light. “You’re not brunette at all, are you?”
    She’d always hated her hair. It looked like the darkest, dullest brown on first glance, but under the light it turned an odd wine colour.
    He moved his face incrementally closer to hers and touched the back of her head. Her heart sped up and she closed her eyes. He brushed her lips with his, then applied gentle but firm pressure. His kiss spread through her veins like warm honey.
    Alex lifted his head and her eyes popped open. Under his intense, speculative gaze, she took two quavering breaths. Had the carriage not been rolling quite so briskly, she was certain she’d have bolted straight out of the door.
    Then he touched his lips to hers again, slanting his mouth tenderly over hers. Her lips trembled under his. With his tongue, he traced the outline of her mouth deliberately, lingeringly. It should have seemed silly, but the sensation of his tongue sliding over her lips was liquid, silken bliss.

    Alex shifted his weight on the squabs and made room in his pantaloons for his growing erection. The erection had come as a complete surprise. Yes, he had flirted with her. What else would a man do when alone in a carriage with a