The Rake's Mistress by Nicola Cornick Read Free Book Online

had taken orders from Lucas Kestrel. ‘Fortunately I was in no real danger.’
    ‘Tell me all about it,’ Nan invited, leaning forward. ‘You are flying high there, Becca. The Kestrels are monstrously high in the instep.’
    ‘I am scarcely pursuing their acquaintance,’ Rebecca said drily. ‘Indeed, I should be happy if I never set eyes on a member of that family again. One meeting was quite enough for me.’
    ‘It sounds as though you set eyes on quite a lot of Stephen Kestrel,’ Nan said, arching her plucked eyebrows knowingly. ‘Almost all of him, in fact. Sam was concerned that he might catch his death of cold when he hopped into the carriage half-naked.’
    Rebecca stifled a laugh. ‘Happily for Lord Stephen, I lent him my cloak. And I averted my gaze as best I could.’
    Nan opened her reticule and popped a sugared almond into her mouth, crunching with fervour. ‘I hear that he is a sweet boy.’
    ‘Very,’ Rebecca said wryly. ‘I felt very sisterly toward him.’
    ‘I wonder if he has a penchant for bawdy houses and low company?’ Nan mused. ‘Perhaps I could make his acquaintance?’
    Rebecca gave her a very sharp look. ‘He has no money of his own,’ she said. ‘I think he is beneath your notice, Nan.’
    ‘Oh, well…’ Nan put her reticule aside with a pettish gesture. ‘I doubt the game would be worth the candle. Young boys…’ She shrugged. ‘They are usually grateful and eager, but it is seldom worth it in the end.’
    ‘Besides which, you would incur the wrath of Lord Lucas Kestrel,’ Rebecca said feelingly, ‘which is not a fate I would wish on anyone.’
    Nan’s blue eyes lit with laughter. ‘What did you think of him, Becca? I doubt that he aroused any sisterly feelings in you. That is not the sentiment he generally produces in the ladies.’
    ‘No,’ Rebecca said. ‘I imagine that it is not.’ She thought of all the feelings that Lucas Kestrel had aroused in her: the anger and the edgy excitement and the longing. She fidgeted with her teacup, impatient with herself, wishing that it was possible to dismiss Lucas from her thoughts.
    ‘Have you met him?’ she asked.
    ‘Only in passing,’ Nan said with every evidence of regret. ‘He is not one of Bosham’s set.’
    ‘Nor a member of the Archangel Club?’
    Nan put her head back and gave a peal of laughter. ‘I should think not! Lord Lucas Kestrel is far too straight for the Angels!’
    Rebecca raised her brows. She did not like the sense of relief the news brought her. ‘I thought him a rake.’
    ‘Oh, he is, but…’ Nan wrinkled up her nose ‘…his tastes do not run to the exotic.’ She shot Rebecca a curious look. ‘Did you like him, Becca?’
    Rebecca reached for her pieces of paper and idly sketched a few kestrels. She was good at drawing hawks. Their grace and fearless pride had always attracted her. She felt tired. It had been Lucas Kestrel who was responsible for the fact that she had overslept that morning, for even after the carriage had finally delivered her home the night before she had found that she could not sleep immediately. Lord Lucas’s face was before her when she closed her eyes. She imagined that she could still feel his touch against her skin. She could hear his voice and see the way his eyes had darkened with disturbing intentness when he had focussed on her. No man had ever stirred her in such a way before.
    After two hours of tossing and turning in her cold bed, she had risen to warm some milk and make herself a soothing drink with nutmeg and honey. And finally she had slept, only to be troubled by a tumble of broken and erotic dreams that left her wide awake, flushed and aroused, and distressed to find herself so.
    ‘Lord Lucas is like many of his type,’ she said now. ‘He is arrogant, overbearing and damnably sure of himself. I always avoid men of that stamp.’
    There was a great deal more feeling in her voice than she had intended and Nan opened her eyes very wide.
    ‘So