Rogue for a Night by Jenna Petersen Read Free Book Online Page B

much as a backwards glance at her. There was really only one thing clear to her from this situation: she wanted to know more. And she wasn’t quite ready to give up yet.

    ~~~

    Rage wanted to punch someone. Hard. He wanted to vent his frustration on another person and feel a little blood, pain and sweat in return just to forget. But he was trapped in “civilized” society and there was no way he could obtain what he desired. In more ways than one.
    Music permeated the air around him, but the pianoforte and other instruments sounded harsh and loud to his ears. When he looked across the ballroom and his gaze found Jane and Stone, standing close together, whispering some kind of loving things to each other, he did not feel happiness for his friend, but jealousy.
    And when he gazed onto the dance floor and saw Lucinda spinning in the arms of some other man… well, the jealousy boiled to something much harder and more dangerous. He stared without checking himself, memorizing the sway of Lucinda’s gown. Tonight it was blue and matched the darkness of her eyes. He burned into his brain the picture of her smile as she spoke to her partner.
    Then the man, whoever he was, Rage didn’t even know, turned her slightly and her gaze slammed into his from across the room. She stared at him, even as she continued the intricate steps. Watching him, focused on him.
    He turned away and started toward the terrace doors as the music ended. He didn’t want to see Lucinda take up with her next waiting partner. It was a bit like torture as he wondered which one she might one day take as her next husband. Had she already met him? Was she already plotting the course of some kind of great romance with a man who knew which fork to use at supper or which gentleman was member of which party in parliament?
    He shoved the door shut behind him and drew in a harsh breath of the soft summer air. He strode to the terrace wall and leaned against the stone, staring out across the estate in the moonlight. This was ridiculous. He hadn’t ever had Lucinda. She wasn’t his, she had simply allowed his kiss in a moment of weakness. So to be so upset at her “loss” was ridiculous to say the least.
    He heard the door to the terrace open behind him and flinched. He didn’t want company, or to be bothered. Without looking back, he started away from the doors and toward the dark corners of the terrace. There were stairs back there, ones that led down to the gardens where he could slip back inside through the back and go up to his chamber. Or perhaps just take a long, hard run by moonlight in the hopes that it would clear his mind.
    “Wait, Ronan!”
    He froze at the use of his given name. Only one person in the world called him that. Lucinda, and only since he’d kissed her. He’d always hated that name, but when she said it…
    “Please,” she said, softer.
    He slowly turned to face her. She was standing at the terrace door, which she had closed behind herself, her hands folded in front of her and her gaze locked on him.
    “My lady,” he murmured with a proper bow of his head.
    In the combined light from inside and from the moon high above, he saw her brow wrinkle in displeasure. “What happened to Lucinda?” she asked softly.
    He stood very still and didn’t respond. Honestly, what was there to say? Calling her by her given name was highly inappropriate unless they shared a far more intimate acquaintance than just two people who knew Stone. And apparently that intimate relationship was destined not to be.
    His silence, which normally intimidated people of her station, and especially women, seemed to hold no meaning to her. She stepped forward. “I wish to speak to you about what happened between us before you left the shire.”
    Rage closed his eyes briefly. This was not the conversation he wished to have. But Lucinda was a lady and he could find no polite reason to refuse her direct request.
    “Very well,” he sighed.
    She moved closer, close