Raven's Ransom by Hayley Ann Solomon Read Free Book Online Page B

and placed them back on his chest. They were warm, ungloved, and ridiculously inviting. Primrose felt herself flush. She realized with a shock that she actually wanted to kiss them, a guilty sensation that she found as unaccountable as it was intoxicating. She resisted, of course, but the sensation lingered, causing her heart to beat quite out of pelter with her sensible thoughts.
    Her eyes caught the book discarded on the floor, Uranometria . They widened in disbelief. Uranometria. The man, surely, was not literate! How could he be reading such an animating discourse on the universe?
    She picked it up and fingered it gently The leather smelled pleasing, and the pages were invitingly crisp. She pulled off her gloves and fingered through the book, settling, at last, for a fascinating description of the planets. Sadly, her thoughts would not settle in the disciplined manner to which they were accustomed, veering dangerously toward a certain unexpected intruder.
    How shocking that she should not yet have raised an alarm! How shocking, too, that she was now searching about for her carriage blanket that she customarily kept under the squabs. It was not there. Dash it, the man must be lying on it! She leaned a little closer, then gasped as his eyes opened and she found herself caught in a vicelike grip, prone across her captor. He smiled beguilingly in the dim lamplight, then pulled her head down to his. His lips were featherlight and warm, rather more dreamy than she imagined—and she had imagined, though it is scandalous to reveal as much. She thought of struggling, but his arm was hard against the arch of her back and she knew a certain thrill in its obvious dominance. Struggling was out of the question. Too undignified by far. She wafted, then, in a wave of desire that made a mockery of her habitual common sense. After a whilst, she found herself reluctantly released, though there was a beguiling light in the stranger’s eye as he examined his quarry in more detail.
    “Whoever you are, you are certainly intriguing!” His words were amused, and held a slight hint of question. She thought his tone rather peremptory for a man of his lowly position.
    She sat up as straight as she could and considered slapping his face. Then, since she could not honestly regret his reprehensible behavior, she thought the better of such a drastic action and raised her brows haughtily instead.
    “The boot is on the other foot, my good man, for in truth though I suspect I know who you are, you are certainly also intriguing.”
    The amusement crept from striking eyes to an impossibly handsome mouth.
    “It is unfair that you have the advantage of me, then. Who are you?”
    Primrose looked cynical. It was not necessary for the coachman to feign ignorance of her identity. She hated above all things dishonesty, and so held herself a little aloof as she replied. When he didn’t answer, she continued. “I am surprised you do not know me, since it is Lord Raven who pays your annual stipend. Go now, whilst my sisters are still dancing.”
    She mistook the incredulity in his eyes for hesitation. Her tone became more urgent, though her heart was still beating impossibly quickly and she wondered if he realized that his eyes were focused rather improperly on her soft, modestly cased cleavage. She blushed, for her thoughts were straying in a most immodest direction and she had it in her to wish she had chosen something more daring, like Lily. Still, he hesitated.
    “I shall not betray you, for I fear my own behavior is equally at odds. I cannot comprehend it at all.”
    She sounded puzzled, which caused the gentleman to smile a little and at last volunteer a response. It was not the one Primrose was seeking, but it had the effect of causing her to tremble, a little, and close her eyes against the improper suggestion. The rogue had actually volunteered to repeat his actions. “Purely,” he qualified, with a teasing glint to his observant eyes, “in the