Earls Just Want to Have Fun by Shana Galen Read Free Book Online Page B

bedroom.
    ***
    Dane put the key in his pocket and watched as her eyes grew wide. Devil take him if she started wailing and screaming again. To stave it off, he said, “I’m not going to touch you. I only want to sleep.” He held up his hands as if to show he was harmless and had no interest in anything other than sleeping. The girl was little more than an animal from what he’d seen of her manners. Still…
    When the idea of having her in his room came to him, he had no other intentions, but that was before she’d come out of the bath. He’d immediately regretted giving in to her request to wear men’s clothing. They clung to her in ways they never would on a man. Her breasts pushed at the fabric of the shirt, stretching it. The outline of her nipples had been visible, and he realized she wasn’t wearing any undergarments. That fact was made more obvious when she began to talk about binding her breasts. He had put an immediate stop to that conversation. He did not want to talk about her anatomy, especially not when his body was reacting to it against his will.
    He tried looking away from her chest and wished he had not forced her to bathe. One look at her face made it obvious she was not a boy. The dirt and grime had hid pale, delicate skin, milky white and translucent. She’d stuffed her hair under a cap, but he’d already seen how long it was. Did it fall enticingly about her breasts when she was unclothed?
    He’d shaken his head and forced himself to concentrate on the matters at hand. Dane was good at concentrating. He’d been trained to put his own needs and wants second. He was able to ignore her enticing body for several minutes—that was, until she put her hands on her hips, and the material of her shirt rose. Her hips curved the trousers in ways he found incredibly erotic. He could imagine the sweet shape of her bottom, and had the urge to turn her so he could see that part of her as well. Worst of all, one of the buttons on the shirt popped off at her actions, exposing the creamy flesh of her collarbone.
    Now she stood before him, looking at him as though he were a wolf and she the sheep. As much as he might reassure her, she was right to distrust him. The entire time he’d carried her in from the kitchen, those soft, full breasts pressing into his shoulder, he had thought of nothing but stripping her naked.
    â€œI’m not going to touch you,” he repeated, more for his sake than hers. “We are just going to sleep.”
    She watched him, warily.
    â€œYou can sleep in that chair.” He pointed to a comfortable armchair beside his bed.
    â€œSome nob,” she said, “giving a lady a chair.”
    â€œI don’t know you’re a lady yet, Marlowe ,” he said. “If it turns out you are Lady Elizabeth, I will apologize profusely.” She could say what she wanted. He was not giving up his bed to some street urchin Brook had abducted in Cheapside.
    And he was not going to feel guilty about it.
    Not very guilty, anyway.
    Damn it! The chair was comfortable! He’d fallen asleep in it a time or two when reading. She’d be fine.
    But would he? Or would she wait until he fell asleep, steal the key, and escape? Or worse, would she slit his throat?
    He didn’t have any weapons in his room, but an enterprising girl like her might find something she could use. The letter opener, for example. He swallowed.
    With new determination, he went to the drapes and loosed the cords used to hold them back during the day. Thank God he’d given his valet two days off to visit his mother. In the morning, he did not want to have to explain why he had a girl dressed as a boy tied to his chair.
    â€œWhat are you doing with those?” she asked, backing up. She backed all the way to the door of his dressing room.
    â€œGive me your hands.”
    She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to be tied.”
    â€œI can’t