As an Earl Desires by Lorraine Heath Read Free Book Online

were
remembering every sweep of their tongues and the hard press of her
body against his. She would fight his heat with ice.
    â€œAs I assume you are here for dinner, I
suggest we get it over with.”
    â€œGet it over with? That hardly sounds as
though you’re looking forward to it. If you’d rather I
not be here—”
    â€œNo, of course, I welcome your presence. I
simply meant that I see no point in continuing to discuss this
afternoon or the letter.”
    He took a step toward her, and she moved quickly
back.
    The other corner of his mouth hiked up, so that he
was bestowing upon her a warm smile. “I thought only to
escort you into the dining room…as is my usual
practice.”
    She gathered her courage around her, relaxed her
hands, which had fisted at her sides, and placed one on his offered
arm. “Of course.”
    â€œAs I said in my letter, I understand my
place in your life.”
    Oh, he’d said that, too, had he? And where
exactly did he think his place was?
    â€œYou need never fear me,” he
continued.
    Well, she did fear him. She couldn’t help it.
He terrified her. Even as she wanted him to move to the far ends of
the earth, she wanted him to step closer to her.
    â€œYou don’t frighten me.”
    â€œCan you say the same of the attraction that
shimmers between us?”
    â€œI wasn’t aware of any
attraction.”
    â€œAnd here, I’d always considered you to
be an astute woman.”
    The challenge in his eyes infuriated her. Why
couldn’t he be as easy to manipulate as every other man in
London?
    â€œI believe you are delusional,” she
said, hoping to turn his observations away from her.
    He chuckled, and she remembered that he favored
having a woman who would make him laugh. This encounter was
obviously not going in her favor.
    â€œAm I delusional regarding your being astute
or there being an attraction between us?” he asked.
    She gave him a haughty look. “Well, as I am
obviously astute, then it stands to reason—”
    â€œThat you would feel nothing if I kissed you
again?”
    Feel nothing when her lips had already begun to
tingle in anticipation of his mouth against hers? “Please
don’t test me.”
    She thought she sounded pathetic and weak. She
detested both impressions. They left the hardiest woman
vulnerable.
    He bowed his head slightly, lifted her hand to his
mouth, and kissed the tips of her fingers. “As you
wish.”
    She stared at him, unable to believe the ease with
which he’d given up the pursuit—and a bit disappointed
as well.
    â€œI promise you that what happened this
afternoon will never happen again,” he said.
    Had that been in his
letter or was he just now adding it? How was she to respond? She
finally decided to settle for, “I’m quite
relieved.”
    â€œAre you?”
    â€œUndoubtedly.”
    â€œWhy are you trembling?”
    Because you are near. Because
it is foolish to want you when your occupation had once required
you to determine who had mastered a lesson and who
hadn’t .
    â€œI’m feeling faint because I’ve
yet to dine,” she said, instead of offering the truth.
    â€œThen we’d best see to
dinner.”
    â€œYes, we had.”
    With a measure of relief, she allowed him to escort
her into the dining room. She’d managed to keep the truth
from him, but her success was bittersweet. She’d never
regretted more that she had secrets to keep.

Chapter 4
    S he
was hiding something. Arch was certain of it. She’d seemed
uncomfortable, on edge when first meeting him in the library, and
she’d not relaxed since coming in to dinner.
    If she hadn’t told him that she’d read
his letter, he would have thought that she hadn’t. He
believed he’d been forthright in his apology as well as his
explanation regarding what he expected future encounters between
them to entail, but she was