Nicole Jordan by Master of Temptation Read Free Book Online Page A

in his life. If not for the special circumstances of that long-ago night, he wouldn’t have given her a second glance.
    Tonight he had seen her as she really was, without the benefit of moonlight, without the island’s spellbinding enchantment. He wouldn’t feel the same fiery attraction that she still felt for him. True, for a moment he had stared at her as if absorbing the sight of her. But she’d obviously been indulging in fanciful dreams, mistaking his look for the fierce ardor she’d imagined in her most secret fantasies.
    With a sigh of self-disgust, Caro took off her pelisse. A fire had been lit in the grate, and a light supper awaited her on a small table near the hearth, but she was too agitated to eat.
    Her valise had been delivered by a footman, and she debated whether to change into her nightdress. But then she recalled Thorne was supposed to return shortly. Moreover, the ball would probably go on for hours—she could hear the faint strains of music below—and being undressed would make her feel too defenseless when the house was filled with so many lovely ladies wearing splendid ballgowns.
    Caro paced restlessly for a moment, then forced herself to stop when she caught sight of herself in the cheval glass. Her dark brown hair was wild and untidy, with dozens of curls escaping from their pins. No wonder all those haughty beauties had stared at her. That
he
had stared at her. But it was only one more mark against her in a social ledger that was full of black marks.
    She brushed out her hair, then poured herself a cup of tea and settled in the wing chair before the fire to read a recently published medical treatise, although she comprehended perhaps only one word in three. Her mind kept returning to Max Leighton, to the incredible night she had spent in his arms.
    Perhaps half an hour had passed when she heard a soft rap on her door. Expecting Thorne, Caro rose and opened it.
    She felt herself go cold, then hot, when she saw who stood there.
    “You escaped before I could make a single inquiry,” Max said lightly as he sauntered into the room without so much as a by-your-leave. “I wanted to ask you how Lieutenant Yates is faring.”
    Caro snapped her gaping jaw shut. She would
not
let him fluster her again, even if he
had
invaded her bedchamber uninvited. Thank heaven she had kept on her clothing.
    “Surely you know his status, Mr. Leighton. John told me that he writes to you regularly, just as you requested him to do.”
    “I want to hear your account. How else can I trust that he’s being truthful when he claims to be recovering?”
    The defensive set of Caro’s shoulders relaxed somewhat when she understood the reason for Max’s visit; he needed to know about his former lieutenant to set his mind at ease.
    She swung the door almost closed, allowing them privacy, but leaving it open a crack for propriety’s sake. “John Yates actually is doing quite well. His spirits are far higher than I ever would have expected.”
    Max roughly ran a hand though his hair. “I’m glad he isn’t merely trying to spare me.”
    For a moment he stared down at the carpet, as if caught in some dark memory. Then he looked up at her, his glance once again setting her heart scampering. “And you? How are you faring?”
    She clasped her hands in front of her to steady them. “Well enough, thank you,” she answered, preferring not to open the subject of her missing friend.
    “From your haste in departing the ballroom, I wondered if I had offended you in some manner.”
    Caro felt fresh color stain her cheeks. “No, you didn’t offend me.”
    He took in the length of her…her mouth, her breasts, her hips, as if remembering. All the nerves in her body seemed to flare with heat. “I am not accustomed to women running from me.”
    “No, I would expect not.” Her lips pursed in unwilling humor. “They are much more likely to be chasing you. By all accounts you are the marriage prize of the decade.”
    His own mouth