Love Only Once by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

she had seen her uncle look at women just that way. Well, he was a rake, she told herself. What other kind of man would abduct his mistress from the doorstep of another man’s house? Had he been jealous, thinking his mistress andUncle Anthony were…oh, this was becoming a most amusing situation.
    “Hello, yourself,” Reggie said impishly. “I was beginning to wonder when you would realize your mistake. You certainly took enough time about it.”
    “I am just now wondering if I have in fact made a mistake at all. You don’t look like a mistake. You look very much like something I did right for a change.”
    He quietly closed the door and leaned back against it, those beautiful amber eyes boldly moving over her from head to foot. It was not at all safe for a young lady to be alone with a man of his stamp, and Reggie recognized that. Yet for some reason she couldn’t fathom, she wasn’t afraid of this man. Scandalously, she wondered if it would be such a terrible thing to lose her virtue to him. Oh, it was a reckless mood she was suddenly in!
    She eyed the closed door and his large frame blocking that only exit. “Fie on you, sir. I hope you don’t mean to compromise me more than you already have.”
    “I will if you will let me. Will you? Think carefully before you answer,” he said with a devastating smile. “My heart is in jeopardy.”
    She giggled, delighted. “Stuff! Rakes like you don’t have hearts. Everyone knows that.”
    Nicholas was enchanted. Could anything he said disconcert her? He doubted it.
    “You wound me, love, if you compare my heart to Malory’s.”

    “Never think it, sir,” she assured him. “Tony’s heart is as fickle as anyone’s can be. Any man’s heart would be more constant than his. Even yours,” she said dryly.
    This from the man’s mistress? Nicholas couldn’t believe his luck. She hadn’t even sounded peevish about it. She simply accepted that Malory would never be faithful to her. Was she ripe for a change in lovers?
    “Aren’t you at all curious as to why I brought you here?” he asked. He was certainly curious. Why wasn’t she upset?
    “Oh, no,” she replied lightly, “I have already figured that out.”
    “Have you?” He was amused, waiting to hear whatever outlandish explanation she had arrived at.
    “You thought I was Lady Eddington,” she said, “and you intended she miss the Shepford ball, while you attended and danced every dance. Did you?”
    Nicholas shook himself. “What?”
    “Dance every dance?”
    “Not one.”
    “Well, you must have seen her there. Oh, I wish I could have seen your expression.” She giggled again. “Were you terribly surprised?”
    “Uh…terribly,” he admitted. He was incredulous. How the devil had she put it all together? What had he said when he carried her up here?
    “You have me at a disadvantage. I seem to have said a great deal to you earlier.”

    “Don’t you remember?”
    “Not clearly,” he admitted weakly. “I’m afraid I was good and foxed.”
    “Well then, I suppose that excuses you, doesn’t it? But you didn’t really say all that much. It helps to know the people involved, you see.”
    “You know Lady Eddington?”
    “Yes. Not well, of course. I only met her this week. But she was kind enough to lend me her carriage tonight.”
    He came away from the door suddenly then, crossing the room until he stood only inches away from her. She was even lovelier up close. She didn’t move away, to his surprise, but looked up at him as if she trusted him fully.
    “Who are you?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
    “Regina Ashton.”
    “Ashton?” He frowned thoughtfully. “Isn’t that the family name of the Earl of Penwich?”
    “Why, yes, do you know him?”
    “No. He owns a piece of land bordering my own that I have been trying to buy for several years, but the pompous…he won’t return my inquiries. You’re not related to him, are you?”
    “It is unfortunate, but yes, I am. At least the tie