Love Only Once by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online

this is my getting a tongue lashing from a furious woman I’ve never laid eyes on before. Lord Malory isn’t going tocall me out over a stupid mistake like this. What harm has been done, after all?”
    “The lady’s reputation, Nick,” Percy began. “If this gets out—”
    “How will it get out? Use your head, old boy. If she is Malory’s mistress, what reputation has she to lose? What I would like to know, is what was she doing with Lady Eddington’s carriage?” He sighed, very much the misunderstood, put-upon male. “I suppose I’d better run along home and let her out—whoever she is.”
    “Need help?” Percy grinned. “I’m rather curious to know who she is actually.”
    “She isn’t likely to be in a receiving mood,” Nicholas pointed out. “I’ll be lucky if I only get a vase thrown at my head.”
    “Well, you can manage that on your own, thank you. Tell me all about it tomorrow, all right.”
    “I thought you’d feel that way,” Nicholas said wryly.
    Nicholas rode home as fast as he could. He was quite sober by that point and regretting the entire evening deeply. He prayed the mystery lady had a sense of humor.
    Tyndale let him in and took his cloak, hat, and gloves. “Any problems?” Nicholas asked, knowing there would be a long list. But there wasn’t.
    “Not one, my lord.”
    “No noise?”
    “None.”

    Nicholas took a long, deep breath. She was probably saving all her fury for him.
    “Have the carriage brought round, Tyndale,” he ordered before starting up the stairs.
    The third floor was as quiet as a tomb. The servants had no reason to be in that part of the house after dark. Lucy, the pretty maid he’d been eyeing lately, wouldn’t venture upstairs unless sent for, and his valet, Harris, would be sleeping on the second floor, expecting his master much later. At least no one in the house other than Tyndale knew about the lady’s presence. That was a break.
    Nicholas stood outside Reggie’s door for a brief moment, then unlocked the door and opened it quickly. He was braced to receive a bash on the head, but the jolt he got at first sight of her was just as stunning.
    She stood framed by the window, gazing at him in a startlingly direct way. There was no shyness in her look and no fear either on that exquisite, delicate, heart-shaped face. The eyes were disturbing, with an exotic slant. Such dark blue eyes in that fair face, so blue and clear, like colored crystal. The lips were soft and full and the nose was straight and slender. A thick fringe of sooty lashes framed those extraordinary eyes, while black brows arched gently above them. Her hair was raven black, too, in tight little ringlets surrounding her face, giving her fair skin a glow like polished ivory.
    She was breathtaking. The beauty didn’t stop with her face, either. She was petite, yes, butthere was nothing childlike about her form. Firm young breasts pressed against the thin muslin of her rose gown. It was not cut as low as some gowns were and stopped short of being provocative, yet somehow it was as tantalizing as anything he’d seen in London. He wanted to pull the rose muslin down a few inches and watch those lovely breasts spring free. He received another jolt then, feeling his manhood rise against his will. Lord, he hadn’t lost control like that since his youth!
    Desperate to bring everything under control, he cast about for something—anything—to say. “Hello.”
    His tone implied “What have we here?” and Reggie grinned despite herself. He was gorgeous, simply gorgeous. It wasn’t just his face, though that was striking. There was a sexual magnetism about him that was quite unnerving. He was even better looking than Uncle Anthony, whom she’d always considered the most handsome, compelling man in the world.
    The comparison was reassuring. He reminded her of Uncle Tony, not only in height and appearance, but in the way his eyes assessed her. His mouth quirked upward in approval. How often