Julia London 4 Book Bundle by The Rogues of Regent Street Read Free Book Online

artfully stepped behind a high-backed settee. She smiled at the earl—or rather, she
hoped
she was smiling. With her hair all mussed and her exuberance spilling from every pore, she suspected she looked something like a goose. If Lord Albright thought so, he was very careful not to show it.
    “Miss Dashell, it is my extreme pleasure to make your acquaintance again,” he said smoothly as hecrossed the room to take the hand she clumsily thrust at him. Smiling at her, he lifted it to his lips.
    Oh hell, how very
dashing
, she thought dreamily as he lowered her hand, as dashing as she remembered him, and Lord knew she remembered every single thing about him. Except how very handsome he was. Good God, he was handsome—hair neither brown nor blond, but a rich mixture of both, hazel eyes flecked with gold, and his lips, heaven help her, his lips were full and soft and the very deep color of raspberries.
    “Lilliana?” her mother squeaked.
    “I, um, the pleasure is mine, my lord,” she said hoarsely. Wonderful. She was making a cake of herself and had barely opened her mouth.
    “You are too kind,” he murmured, and smiled so warmly that the corners of his eyes crinkled.
    Lilliana’s knees buckled.
    “Well!” her father exclaimed, and coughed loudly. “Shall we sit?” He took Lady Dashell’s arm and led her to a couch. Lord Albright politely extended his arm to Lilliana, and she very gingerly laid her hand on it, taking care not to touch him
too
much. Clutching the front of her skirt so that he would not see the mud, she allowed him to seat her on the settee. Tom remained standing at the pianoforte, his eyes narrowed on Lord Albright as he seated himself in a chair nearby.
    Her father cleared his throat. “Pleasant weather for the time of year,” he said, and began speaking of the weather—it was unusually warm. The southern breezes were particularly delightful in the early evening hours, but it would be a mild winter. Lord Albright agreed, and mentioned an unusually warm winter spent in Rome.
Rome
—how terribly romantic! But why on earth Tom should roll his eyes at that was beyond Lilliana. Honestly, Tom was acting as if he was miffed. Actually, everyone was acting odd, she noticed with a quick glance at her parents. Her very prim and proper mother did not so much as open her mouth, but sat stiffly beside her husband, staring blankly at the vase of fresh-cut flowerson a little table near the hearth. Even her father looked very uncomfortable, which was very unlike his amicable self.
    As for
her
, well, she had to concentrate to keep from gaping, and speaking was out of the question. It was impossible to comprehend how he had come to be in her drawing room, and to think he was actually
calling
on her completely unfathomable. And worse yet, it was absolutely breathtaking to behold him. From his long, tapered fingers drumming absently on one astoundingly muscular thigh, to the perfectly tied silk neckcloth that just brushed his square jaw, to the wavy hair that extended well past his collar—he was, in a word, magnificent. So magnificent that Lilliana was awestruck.
    Not that anyone noticed, fortunately. Only her father chatted with the earl, and wonder of wonders, the Spence Family Scoundrel responded with effortless grace on the most boring topics in the world.
Farming
? Her father spoke of farming! Lilliana suppressed a groan of mortification, but Lord Albright managed to converse rather cheerfully on the subject. Just when she had convinced herself that she had to be dreaming—for surely a man like him would not be remotely interested in
farming
—her father abruptly stood.
    “Alice, I could use your help in the library. Tom, weren’t you off to the stables to have a look at that new colt?” he asked, then glanced uneasily at the earl. “You will please excuse us, my lord?”
    Excuse them? Oh no, what was
this
? They were going to
leave
her here with him? Lilliana jerked a frantic glance at her mother, but