Edith Layton by How to Seduce a Bride Read Free Book Online Page A

theater, don’t we?” the earl asked.
    “Do we?” Leland answered, as though fascinated.
    “Well, I do,” the earl said. “Sad stuff to sit around a hotel room while all London is amusing itself outside your window, but you don’t know the city enough to venture out on your own. In Daisy’s case, it’s even worse, because she can’t go anywhere at night by herself.”
    “Indeed,” Leland said expressionlessly. “I’m to be included in all this merrymaking, am I?”
    “If you’d be so kind,” the earl said. “You know London better than I do.”
    “So I do,” Leland said, bowed, and strolled away.
    Daisy watched as he sauntered over to talk with the dressmaker. He was so tall and thin, she’d have thought he’d be awkward, but he moved with the same lazy, effortless grace he spoke with. Today he was dressed in black and dark gray, except for a splash of crimson in his waistcoat. The gentlemen she’d seen in fashion plates were tidy men, neat and precise. He wasmuch too tall, thin, and careless for fashion, but he was Fashion. It still amazed her.
    He spoke with the modiste, and Daisy’s eyes narrowed as she saw him amble over to the model wearing the gold gown she’d wanted. He stopped and smiled down at the woman. For one mad moment, Daisy thought he was going to arrange to buy the gown for her, as an apology for how disagreeable he’d been about it.
    The model was tall and slender, but she still had to look up at the viscount. She was striking, with classical features. Her sleek black hair was pulled back tightly in a bun, as all the models’ were, so as not to interfere with the presentation of the gown, or so the viscount had said.
    The earl rose to his feet, too, so Daisy did as well, but she kept her eyes on the viscount. As she watched, she saw him lift one long white hand and run the back of it lightly across the model’s cheek in a careless caress as he whispered to her. He’d been right. The material of the gold gown was thin. Daisy couldn’t help but notice that the nipples on the model’s small, pointed breasts rose in peaks when he touched her cheek. She’d bet they weren’t talking about his purchasing the gown.
    She was confused. It wasn’t really an intimate gesture; it couldn’t be, especially coming from a man like Viscount Haye. But it suddenly seemed like one. She frowned.
    “Don’t mind Lee,” the earl said, seeing her expression. “He means well.”
    “I’m just surprised,” she murmured, without thinking.
    The earl saw the direction of her gaze. “Surprised?”
    “I didn’t think he was interested in…” She suddenly realized what she was saying and her face colored up.
    “In what?” the earl asked with interest.
    Well, in for a penny, she thought, in for a pound. There was no time like the present to find out about the earl.
    “In…females.”
    The earl’s eyebrows shot up. “ Lee? You wondered that about him ?”
    “I didn’t mean to offend,” she said quickly. “It’s none of my business. But the way he talks…I mean,” she said, backing off the subject when she saw his obvious astonishment. “Forgive me! You must remember how it was back at the colony: What you think is what you say and devil take the hindmost. I’ve been gone from England too long, I need to retrain my tongue as well as my manners.”
    The earl became thoughtful. He looked over at the viscount and the model who was now staring, as if mesmerized, up into his eyes, and a slow smile dawned on his own face. “Well,” he said slowly, “there’s a thought, indeed. How amusing,”he murmured as if to himself, his eyes sparkling. “How ironic. I’d share it with him if it weren’t impossible.”
    He looked back to Daisy, and then said sincerely, “All I’ll say is that you needn’t worry about Leland’s attentions, my dear.”
    “Oh,” she said. So it was true. But then, what about Geoff himself?
    “Whatever else he is, Leland is entertaining, good company, and a