In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare Read Free Book Online Page A

polite society, I completely forgot my manners. Please do pass my sincerest apology to Miss Sinclair. She was most appropriate in her reprimand.”
    A flash of unabashed humor lit Eynsford’s amber eyes. Yet he maintained his polite façade as he nodded and said, “I will be certain to extend your apologies to the lady, Blodswell.” Then his voice rose just a tad. “However, you may apologize to the lady yourself when you pay a call at Thorpe House tomorrow.”
    Blast the damned Lycan for enjoying this.
    Matthew nodded tightly.
    “Viscount Radbourne. Mr. Grayson Hadley and Mr. Weston Hadley,” Pickerings’ butler intoned.
    En masse, the entire ballroom’s occupants shifted their focus from Matthew to the three stunned gentlemen standing in the main threshold. Why the devil couldn’t the wolfish trio have arrived moments before?

     
    Cait swiftly led Rhiannon to an antechamber that was doubling as a retiring room where they quietly waited for a pair of giggly girls to take their leave. As soon as they were alone, Cait locked the door behind them, which couldn’t have happened a moment too soon. The room was quickly filling with storm clouds as the sobs built within Rhiannon. She sank heavily onto a chintz chair.
    “Oh, Rhi,” Cait sighed. “I canna believe ye did that. I wish Blaire had been here ta see it. Then she could tell ye it was the most bloody brilliant scene that she’d ever witnessed.”
    “It wasna bloody brilliant,” Rhiannon gasped. “It was horrendous. I’ll never be able ta show my face again.”
    Cait covered her mouth and giggled lightly.
    And then Rhiannon allowed a watery smile to cross her lips. She’d just broken a punch bowl, nearly knocked a footman off his feet, and dropped an icicle into a fearsome duchess’ cleavage, an area where no one had obviously been in quite some time. Then she’d gone and slapped a revered peer of the realm.
    No, she’d slapped the vampyre who’d turned Alec into what he was now, the creature who’d stolen her friend’s future. And she’d done it in front of the entire
ton
, in the middle of a crowded ballroom where her powers and her very nature could have been exposed. Rhiannon glanced up to find Cait regarding her curiously. “Are ye all right?”
    Rhi blew out an exasperated breath. “Ye kent I was goin’ ta do that, and ye dinna give me any sort of warnin’.”
    Cait shrugged. “Well, that’s no’ entirely true, Rhi. I
did
mention the picnic, if ye remember. And ever since ye arrived on my doorstep, ye’ve been remindin’ me that I shouldna peek inta yer future.”
    Rhiannon folded her arms across her chest. “Well, ye picked a fine time ta start listenin’ ta me.”
    “Chin up.” Cait smiled. “Ye’ll want ta get that knock.”
    Knock? There was no…
    A knock sounded at the locked door. Rhiannon gulped and leveled her friend with her most serious glare. Cait could be more than infuriating at times. “Tell me that isna Lord Blodswell.”
    The blond witch shook her head. “He may be darin’, but I doubt even the benevolent Blodswell would attempt ta enter a ladies’ retirin’ room.”
    Benevolent. After what the villain had done to Alec, “benevolent” couldn’t be used to describe him. Rhiannon suppressed a snort as she rose to her feet. She crossed the small antechamber to the door Cait had locked. “A moment please.”
    “Rhi, open up!” Ginny’s hushed voice filtered through the door. “Before someone sees me.”
    Rhiannon wrenched the door open and felt the first bit of relief she’d experienced in more than a fortnight.
    “Oh, Ginny!” Rhiannon threw her arms around her younger sister. “I’ve been so worried about ye.”
    Ginny pulled back from Rhi’s embrace. “Ye’re worried about me? After the display in the ballroom, ye should be worried about yerself.”
    “Ye saw that?” Rhiannon groaned. Blast it all. She’d lost her temper again. “How bad is it?” Her aunt would never let her near Ginny