Belle of the ball by Donna Lea Simpson Read Free Book Online Page A

in his words. It intrigued her more than she would have believed possible. She felt she could listen to him all night.
    He smiled down at her, searching her eyes. "If. . . if you really wish."
    "I do," she said. "I want to learn more about Canada. I have heard so little, but what I have heard made me wish to know more, to see it through someone's eyes."
    "Very well. I have explored for years, but there is still so much to see, so much to do! West of the lakes, many miles west, there is a series of great mountains to rival the Alps. I have heard that they are huge and soar to great snowy peaks and plunge to deep valley gorges where wild, white water tumbles. My dream is to see them, to find a way to the Pacific through them."
    "Why have you come back to England?" Arabella asked. She was feeling winded, as if she had been scaling one of those enormous mountains, breathing that wild, free, fresh air. How marvelous it must be, how absolutely invigorating. If she were only a man, she would—But he had not answered her question. "Why have you come back, Mr. Westhaven, if you love it so?"
    He reached out with one large hand and caressed a ringlet that scraped her bare shoulder. His hand was so warm she could feel the heat radiating from it, and yet the very heat made her shiver.
    His eyes met hers and held them. "I have come into an inheritance, or am about to, anyway."
    Arabella felt her pulse quicken. He was inheriting money? If he should be rich, and perhaps coming into a title—the possibilities frightened her a little. She had never felt this immediate interest in a man, a man at the same time fascinating and infuriating. If he were rich and tided and looking to wed? A vision of marriage to a man of such frightening charisma and overwhelming power entranced and yet alarmed her. "How . . . fortunate for you. Are you . . . will you ... is it a large inheritance?"
    He chuckled. 'T am not sure how much it is yet. I am a very poor man, you know, so any money will seem like a lot." He gazed at her steadily. "Does it matter?" he said, softly.
    Treacherous shoals, she thought. No man, and especially not this one, wanted to be valued for his purse alone. "Of course not! It was just a casual question."
    His gray eyes hooded in the dimness of the conservatory, he said, "I think it will be a couple hundred. Not more than that."
    A couple of hundred pounds. It may seem like a lot to him, but it was nothing, the merest pittance. And she was sitting in the conservatory with him speaking of nonsense when she should be out circulating and finding her future mate. Disappointment fueled anger, anger at herself for being caught up in his marvelous dream of traveling to far-off places, and anger at him for not being eligible. She did not have time to lose her sense of purpose this Season!
    Marcus saw her nose go up, and almost felt her chill. For a few minutes he had seen her warmth, a vivacity he found entrancing. She was genuinely interested in Canada, he thought; on some level the wildness of it appealed to her.
    And by God, she was beautiful, especially when her green eyes sparkled and she shook back her blond curls impatiently as she listened, enraptured. Smooth skin, slim, supple figure, exquisite of face and form; he felt the pulse of attraction even as he watched her pert nose turn up and felt her withdraw from him. Apparently he was not rich enough for her, mercenary little baggage. What a disappointment.
    He was not surprised when she stood. "We—I think this number is over, and we should be getting back to the ballroom."
    He stood and stretched, flexing his muscles, feeling them begin to atrophy from the unaccustomed lack of exercise. Her eyes widened as she almost unwillingly gazed at his body, eyeing his shoulders. She licked her lips and swallowed, and he felt an inevitable stirring in his loins at her interest. Damn, but he wished she were another type of woman, one available for seduction. The blush on her pretty cheeks told him