An Improper Lady (The Powder and Patch Collection) by Jane Godman Read Free Book Online Page A

comment, his brother, Daniel, called him over to supply verification of a childhood anecdote. Bella watched as he slid an arm about his wife’s waist and Rosie leaned gratefully against him. Not much wrong there, she decided.
    With a sigh, she glanced around the room. There was not one single person she had any desire to speak to. Really, she was becoming a trifle too particular in her tastes!
    “I say, is that not Pomeroy?” an enthusiastic young gentleman asked his friend, with a gesture in the direction of the staircase. Bella swung round, only just managing to stifle the exclamation which sprang to her lips. The object of their attention was, at that precise moment, raising a pinch of snuff to one nostril with a polished gesture while surveying the company languidly. When Jack hailed him, he minced forward on diamond encrusted heels, the light of hundreds of candles reflected in the jewels that adorned his fingers, profusion of ruffles and even the band which confined his powdered hair.
    “ The one you told me about?” the other young man asked incredulously. “Fellow you said was a demon in the boxing ring? That cannot be him, surely?”
    “ It is him. They say if he wasn’t a gentleman, he could make a fortune from prize fights! By Jove, I’m going to speak to him tonight, ask him about that punishing right hook of his.”
    Bella, who was in no mood to forgive Sir Peregrine for cutting up her peace with his tardiness, observed the famous pugilist from under her lashes. He was chastising his friend, Jack, for clapping him too soundly on the back, thereby endangering the line of his full-skirted crimson velvet coat. In the middle of this discourse, he looked up and saw Bella. His eyes softened involuntarily and, in spite of herself, Bella’s own eyes reflected his warm expression. With a last quip in Jack’s direction, Sir Peregrine made his way to her side.
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    “ We missed you at dinner, Sir Peregrine,” she told him, extending her hand for his kiss.
    “ Good!” he said, quizzing her with his eyes. When she raised her brows in an attempt at hauteur, he added, “I don’t give a damn for anyone else’s feelings, but I’d be devilish put out if you hadn’t missed me!”
    They stood slightly apart from the party, close to the fireplace and watched the young dancers who romped so vigorously that their faces were flushed and shining.
    Bella took a deep breath. “Why did you stop when you did?” she asked, and he turned puzzled eyes upon her. “At Vauxhall, you were about to take me,” she stated bluntly, and his eyes darkened instantly with remembered lust. “But you stopped, before the delightful Miss Chorley bounced in on us.”
    “ Truth be told, I realised something in that instant,” he grinned ruefully. “Which was surprising considering I was not exactly thinking with my brain at the time!”
    Bella waited, watching his profile as he reached for the poker and stirred the burning logs. With a sigh, he looked up from his task. “I love you,” he stated simply.
    “Pardon?” Bella was so surprised she closed her eyes. She could not have heard him correctly!
    Sir Peregrine gave a short laugh. “I love you,” he repeated. Bella opened her eyes and saw that he was in earnest. “And, loving you, I was not prepared to degrade you with a quick knee-trembler in a public place! Even if it was all your idea!”
    “ You look shocked,” he said after a few minutes.
    “ I am shocked,” she agreed. “And honoured…”
    He held up a hand to forestall her and an expression of something close to pain twisted his features. “Don’t, I beg you, let me down gently with the speech about how you are flattered but cannot return my regard. I am well aware that this happens to you all the time. ”
    “It doesn’t,” Bella stated bluntly. “I am the woman men want to bed, not the one they fall in love with!”
    “ I don’t do things by halves,” his expression was