That Despicable Rogue by Virginia Heath Read Free Book Online Page A

early.
    ‘What is all this blasted noise?’ he barked as he threw open the door.
    Two young maids and his prickly housekeeper dropped the linens they were carrying and stared at him open-mouthed. Only then did he remember that he was only wearing his drawers. Now that he no longer lived in bachelor lodgings he should probably purchase a dressing gown, he realised as the two maids giggled shyly behind their hands at the sight of his bare chest. Out of habit, he grinned wolfishly at them, well aware that he looked pretty good in his birthday suit. The maids happily grinned back.
    ‘Mr Jameson!’
    He could not help but notice that Mrs Prim-and-Proper was not giggling at the spectacle. She turned towards the two maids angrily, her face glowing beetroot-red, and pointed at the pile of sheets on the floor.
    ‘Take those downstairs at once.’
    They nodded in unison and scurried away, leaving Ross alone with the woman on the landing. To rile her, he braced his arms on the doorframe above his head and smiled innocently while she did her level best not to meet his eyes. Those same eyes kept flicking to his bare chest, though, he noticed, and he was prepared to bet money that she liked what she saw.
    ‘Good morning, Mrs Prim. How are you today?’ he asked cheerfully, still braced against the door to show his biceps off to their best effect.
    ‘Mr Jameson.’
    She was all pink, outraged and flustered, and the spectacle made him smile.
    ‘It is not proper for you to wander around so freely in your underclothes.’
    ‘Is it not?’ Ross responded as he idly scratched his stomach and watched her eyes lock on to that spot. ‘I do apologise. But seeing as I was rudely awoken by all the noise you were making I do think that I should be excused. I am never fully compos mentis at the crack of dawn.’
    Immediately, her gaze shot back to his face and she stared at him accusingly over the rim of her glasses. She did that a lot, he realised—and always over the rims of her thick lenses, never through them. If she did not need the awful spectacles for distance he had no idea why she would wear them. They were an abomination on her face.
    ‘Mr Jameson, this house is, as you have rightly pointed out, in a shabby and neglected state. We are presently doing our best to clean out the bedchambers, ready for the tradesmen to begin their renovations. That requires the maids to work in them. Already it is past midday— not the crack of dawn, as you claim—and we waste several hours every day waiting for you to be awake. Perhaps if you kept more regular hours then you would not be so tired in the mornings.’
    For emphasis, Hannah folded her arms across her chest and stoically held her ground. She would not allow the sight of his naked body to distract her.
    Although it was quite distracting... He had interesting muscles all over the place. And hair. Fine dark hair dusted his chest, and a thin trail of it bisected his navel and disappeared into his drawers. To make matters worse he had crossed his own arms, mirroring her posture, and this caused the muscles in his upper arms to bulge significantly in a way that made her breath hitch.
    ‘You dare to lecture me on my bedtime, Mrs Prim? Have you been keeping track of the hours I keep? I did not know that you cared.’
    He raised his dark eyebrows suggestively and she felt a hot, guilty blush stain her cheeks. She had become a little preoccupied with his nocturnal activities.
    His voice dropped to a silky whisper. ‘Do you disapprove?’
    ‘The hours that you keep and how you choose to spend them are not my concern, sir,’ she finally bit out. ‘But the hours that the servants keep are. The maids start at six o’clock. Are you suggesting that I pay them for standing idle for hours on end while you are still abed? That is not going to get this house finished by the end of the summer.’
    His green eyes narrowed in assessment and then he cheerfully shrugged in surrender. ‘You are right, as