Guarding a Notorious Lady by Olivia Parker Read Free Book Online Page B

sacrificial lambs.
    He couldn’t believe his sister thought he might find a bride here among these duplicitous women—not that he was looking for one.
    There were exceptions, he thought, thinking of Gabriel’s Madelyn, but she was indeed a rare creature, and Gabriel’s loyalty to her was rarer still.
    He looked over at his friend and conjured up a grin that most likely looked like a grimace. He was appreciative of their friendship, of their all iance. The duke didn’t trust many, and Nicholas echoed that feeling.

    They had met when they’d both been lads, exploring the high country where they’d lived. Despite the initial difference in their social classes, they had become fast friends, intuitively recognizing similar dispositions and codes of conduct. Over the years, their relationship had grown on a solid foundation of mutual respect.
    But there were things Gabriel had done for Nicholas’s family—hell, for him, for that matter—which could never be repaid.
    Nicholas firmly believed that if it wasn’t for having a duke in his corner in Parliament, the individuals in the courts who had challenged his recent inheritance would have drawn out the battle until he would have been obliged to sell all the land that he had acquired on his own just to pay the legal costs. As it was, he had been able to keep all the estate properties that enabled his income.
    Indeed. He owed much to the duke—none of it repayable, in Nicholas’s estimation. And the man had never asked for anything in return. Until now.
    Back in Yorkshire, he’d asked Nicholas to watch over Rosalind while he was away. Nicholas was, in a word, astounded. This man trusted—well, practically no one, in Nicholas’s estimation. And yet he entrusted Nicholas with guarding something so dear as a sister.
    Someone as precious and exquisite as Rosalind.
    Certainly, it was easy enough to keep his thoughts from straying to Rosalind in the country when there was plenty of work to distract him . . . but now that he must watch her every move?
    Three months, he reminded himself. Three measly months and that was it. Nicholas would uphold his promise to Gabriel and keep an eye on her for the extent of the season. Of course, he’d see to it that she returned safely to Yorkshire to rusticate, but then he would go on with his life.

    But Christ above, did ever a man see such an all uring sight?
    She stood about twenty feet from him, dressed in a dark red gown that hugged every gentle curve, elongated every line, and accentuated all her feminine wiles. His eyes dropped down, momentarily, to a diamond-shaped, silver brooch that was pinned in the center of her bodice, directly under the deep cleft between her breasts. Wasn’t the perfect symmetry of her lovely curving bosom distraction enough?
    Her obsidian hair was upswept into a simple coiffure, dotted with tiny red flowers that matched her gown. A few inky coils dropped like precious jewels to dangle near her ears and down further to skim the porcelain-like skin of her neck and collarbone. All of that, he had gleaned from a hundred discreet glances flicked in her direction.
    Tonight she reminded him of a bloodred rose against a clear night sky. A quiet, regal beauty, who—
    he flicked a glance over her head—was currently looking at him as if she wanted to a sink a dirk in his chest.
    Aye, the lassie was a beauty. And meddlesome, and stubborn, and quite possibly spoiled. And, most assuredly hard to please. She was in her what, seventh season, was it? Surely that meant she was just as fastidious in love as the Devines were reputed to be.
    He wouldn’t look at her directly, not while she was looking at him. Not when they stood this close and there wasn’t anything to distract him.
    And yet he sensed something had changed. It was as if her mind had grown even sharper. He no longer held any doubts that she might not recognize his attraction for her reflected in his eyes. But he still wouldn’t give her the satisfaction