Lady Iona's Rebellion by Dorothy McFalls Read Free Book Online Page A

set herself on was fraught with danger and ruin—not freedom. He knew the truth of a rogue’s lifestyle only too well.
    His plan was to push her into seeing, really seeing, the harm she was asking him to do to her. He’d been confident that he’d chosen a task that would send her rushing back to her delightfully proper life.
    That confidence had been bolstered when he’d met her outside the Lower Assembly Rooms. She appeared as pure as a girl fresh out of the schoolroom. She wore a proper white crepe gown that was banded just under her pert breasts with a pale pink satin. Miniature daisies trimmed the sleeves and hem. The pink daisies adorning her blonde hair matched the flowers on her gown and were the same shade as the slippers on her dainty feet.
    If he hadn’t known better, he would have taken her for a chit experiencing her first turn on the marriage mart. It was out of the bounds of reality to picture her splashing into the steaming water like an unschooled hoyden.
    Lust kicked low in his gut. He watched as she floated on the surface like an exotic water lily. Her icy blonde locks and short white shift glistened in stark contrast to the dark green waters.
    The strangely erotic scene struck him as surreal. He rubbed his eyes, losing himself in the sight of how her chemise clung to her delightfully plump breasts. He’d never seen anyone play the part of seductress better. And he doubted she even understood how her display could affect a man.
    If anyone else were to happen by and see her displayed thusly, there would be hell to pay.
    And ruin.
    His reputation was already pitted with so many chinks he doubted it could look any worse. Any member of the ton would merely shake their head, muttering how they would expect no better from the likes of him. But sending her down the very same path he’d taken into hell two years earlier ran cross-purposes to the reason he’d returned to this frightfully dull town in the first place.
    His visit to Bath was his first step in his return to society. He had come in humble supplication, hoping to repair his name, not drive the last nail into his own coffin.
    Ruin the untouchable Lady Iona, daughter of the highly respected Duke of Newbury, and he’d be lucky if the worst he suffered was lifetime banishment from England.
    More likely, he’d be shot.
    Why in the devil did she jump into the water in the first place? He had to get her out of that damned bath and back into her family’s care as soon as possible.
    “No, don’t thank me. I am only too happy to show you the late-night sights the town has to offer, ma’am,” a young dandy drawled. A group of women tittered with answering giggles. “This here is the famed King’s Bath.”
    Nathan’s gaze flew to the terrace that overlooked the bath. Three gentlemen and four ladies were fast approaching the railing. They’d take one glance and it would be all over for him.
    Hell and damnation.
    Without a whit of hesitation, Nathan dove, fully clothed, into the water.
    “Take a deep breath,” he warned Iona and pushed her head under.
    She struggled against him. Water bubbled all around him like an angry tempest. Her foot slammed his side with enough force to make him grunt an oath.
    “Ho, there,” one of the men in the small group leaned over the railing and called out just as Iona emerged, sputtering for breath, from under the water. “What’s going on down there?”
    “Are you trying to murder me?” Iona’s raspy voice was hardly more than a whisper.
    “We have company,” Nathan whispered back.
    Iona took one look, sucked in a deep breath and dove back under.
    “I say,” the man hanging over the railing called out louder this time. “What’s going on down there?”
    “Got a little top-heavy from the brandy and tumbled in. Drat my luck,” Nathan shouted back while guiding the twisting and kicking Iona toward the colonnade that covered one side of the bath, doing his earnest best to keep between her and those prying