Dangerous to Love by Rexanne Becnel Read Free Book Online Page B

nobody—were he merely a gypsy horse-handler, as he very nearly was.”
    She gave Lucy a sharp look. “You are no longer young and foolish, else I would not have engaged you as a chaperone. I trust you are also no longer susceptible to the wiles of handsome young men of the ton.”
    “If I were susceptible to that sort of gentleman, I would have long ago wed. Rest assured, Lady Westcott, your grandson’s appeal will be wasted upon me. I plan to be more than diligent in the discharge of my duties toward Lady Valerie. If there is one thing I stand firm upon, it is my disdain of insincere, self-important, would-be rakes.”
    Lady Westcott nodded her approval, then gave a faint smile. “I am glad to hear it. Very glad to hear it. Now, as we have a long and tiring day ahead of us, I believe I shall attempt to nap a while.”
    So saying, Antonia closed her eyes and leaned back against the cushion she’d positioned by her head. But beneath her lowered lashes, she kept a close watch on Miss Lucy Drysdale.
    She’d set the trap and baited it. It remained now for someone to get caught. Whether it was Ivan and Valerie, or Ivan and Miss Drysdale, was immaterial to her, so long as the damnable boy was wed to someone, and soon. But she confessed to herself that she would rather it be the almost penniless young woman across from her, than her immature godchild.
    Ivan had given her fits these last ten years: disappearing without a word; not even responding when he’d been formally adopted and made his father’s heir. He’d not come to his father’s funeral in the fall. Then he’d waited until the last moment to notify her that he would participate in the investiture this past January. For him to end up with a malleable wife like Valerie would be grossly unfair. He deserved a wife who would give him as much trouble as he would give her.
    Antonia felt sure that this Lucy Drysdale was just the woman to do it.
    Let him decide upon her , she prayed, though her prayers tended to come more in the form of commands than humble pleadings. Let him decide on Miss Lucy Drysdale, and let the girl run as fast and hard as she can in the opposite direction. But in the end, let her catch him.
    And let them have her great-grandchild promptly nine months later—if not sooner.
     
    No one had warned her that he wore an earring!
    That was the first thought that shot through Lucy’s head.
    They’d arrived very late at the grand address on Berkeley Square. She’d thought the butler a trifle surprised and perhaps a little worried when he’d bowed them into the foyer. But she’d attributed that more to the fact that Lady Westcott had not sent word ahead that they were coming.
    She’d caught the scent of tobacco in the air as she followed Lady Westcott to her suite of rooms, and had suspected, from the lights she’d seen burning, that someone was at home. When the door to the dowager countess’s sitting room crashed open and this unannounced male stalked in, however, she knew at once that something was amiss. And also that he must be the new earl.
    He was home all right, and he was not in the least happy to see his grandmother arrive.
    Still, of all the things she might have noticed about him—his dark, lean features; his glossy black hair; his tall, broad-shouldered silhouette—it was the earring that transfixed her. A gold, glinting hoop that winked back the oil-fed light, and defiantly proclaimed his Gypsy heritage.
    She was to protect Lady Valerie from him ?
    Her knees went weak and her mouth went dry. How had his grandmother described him? He is not without a certain appeal? Though Lucy would freely admit that her experience with men had been limited in recent years, there was not a doubt in her mind that this man very likely possessed more physical appeal than half the men in London combined.
    Then he opened his mouth and she discovered the reverse side of that considerable appeal.
    “Get the hell out of my house!”
    Lucy gasped—or at