An Invitation to Sin by Suzanne Enoch Read Free Book Online Page A

again, all but the excited core of her couldn't believe he was there in the first place. Since he was there, however, from this moment on she needed to be absolutely, unquestionably professional about sketching and painting him. No more moon-eyed staring,whatever her reasons for it. This was her one blasted chance.
    She'd barely slept, and not just because Susan had kept her up half the night chatting about how princely and royal and handsome and wealthy their houseguest was. Her fingers had practically itched—and still did—with the desire to pick up a pencil and sketch him. Even after just half a day she felt as though she knew every bit of him. Considering the importance of the portrait, however, she wanted him seated in front of her. Only her best work would get her to Vienna—and away from Wiltshire and the Eades family and their governess position.
    The door clicked shut behind her. With a start Caroline turned around. Lord Zachary stood just inside the conservatory, gazing at her. "Good morning," he drawled.
    For a moment she simply looked back at him. Susan had been correct. He wasn't heavy or hairy or overly muscled, but masculine in the best sense of the word. And no man had ever before looked at her with that expression on his face. She swallowed as he moved forward, closing the distance between them, his lovely gray eyes focusing on her mouth.
    Caroline watched him approach, taking in the tilt of his head, the play of his thigh muscles beneath his snug buckskin trousers, and storing the memories for future recall on canvas. She didn't care how many epithets her sisters piled on his head—physically, he was magnificent. "Good morning," she returned, attributing the sudden tightness low in her stomach and the heat running beneath her skin to the desire to begin sketching him again at once.
    "It definitely is now." Lord Zachary touched her cheek with his fingers. Leaning down, he took her mouth in a slow, soft kiss.
    For a dozen heartbeats Caroline froze, every ounce of her being focused on the warm touch of his lips against hers. Then with a start daylight broke through the mist. Gasping, she pushed backward. "What—what are you doing?"
    His fine brow furrowed. "Kissing you."
    "Well, stop it at once!"
    "I did." He lowered his hand, his expression darkening at the same time. "You don't have someone hiding in here as a witness, do you? Because this was your—"
    "Are you mad?" Caroline was still trying to remember how to breathe, and her voice squeaked. "What are you talking about?"
    "You invited me up here for a private rendezvous. I don't—"
    "I invited you to my studio so I could sketch you." She'd never heard that insanity or soft-headedness ran in the Griffin family, but then they wouldn't make any such thing public. Certainly none of her subjects had ever kissed her before. "And open the door at once, before my maid comes to investigate and catches us in here alone!"
    His gaze left her face, traveling toward the sketch pad and the carefully laid out pencils, then moving on to the walls at the back of the conservatory. She didn't need to turn around to know what he was looking at; for heaven's sake, she'd painted all of them. Finally his gaze returned to her again.
    "When you said you wanted to sketch me, you actually wanted to sketch me."
    "Yes. What did you think…" Abruptly, the kiss and the expression in those gray eyes made sense. "Oh! I am not some… lightskirt, sir!"
    "Bloody hell," he muttered, stalking back to pull open the door again. "I'm a damned blockhead. Apologies, Miss Witfeld." Lord Zachary stood in the doorway for a moment, then looked at the back wall again. Finally, almost as though it was against his better judgment, he strolled over to look at her artwork.
    She turned around to keep him in sight, mortification and anger pulling her in opposite directions. How could he have thought such a… scandalous thing? And about her? "So you often have ladies offer to sketch you and