The Sins of Viscount Sutherland by Samantha James Read Free Book Online

champagne? Probably, she decided. Oddly, she didn’t care.
    Gray watched her, a lazy smile flitting at one corner of his mouth. “Did you enjoy yourself tonight?”
    She tipped her head to the side, hugging the silk of her cloak closer around her shoulders.
    “Yes, I quite enjoyed myself, my lord.”
    He made a tsking sound. “Gray.”
    “Very well, then. I quite enjoyed myself . . . Gray.”
    “And the company, Claire? Did you enjoy that as well? I must say, I found myself ever more entranced.”
    He watched her laugh nervously. She had yet to learn when he mocked. “You can be quite the charming gentleman, can’t you?”
    Gentleman? He was darkly amused. The last thing anyone would call him was a gentleman. Bastard. Scoundrel. But never a gentleman. Not anymore.
    He turned toward her. “The evening need not yet end. The hour is still early. Permit me to play the host.”
    Claire felt her heart begin to clamor. “The host?”
    “Yes. I’ve taken the liberty of having a small supper prepared at my home. Will you join me?”
    He was certainly direct. This, too, was uncharted territory, but her very purpose in coming to London. “It sounds just the thing.”
    “Excellent,” he murmured. He leaned forward and rapped twice on the window. Briefly he spoke to his driver.
    It wasn’t long before they drew up to a house on Sheffield Square fronted by Georgian brick and a shiny red door.
    Gray helped her down. In the foyer, he slipped off her cloak. She was acutely aware of the brush of his fingertips across the bare skin of her shoulders. Her heart began to pound as he led her into the drawing room. The sweet scent from a small vase of pink roses perfumed the air. Soft candlelight flickered across the walls. There was fruit and a small array of cold meats and cheese set on a side table.
    Claire steadied her breath. Her mind tripped forward. She had asked herself how she would handle an advance from him, should he make one. Should he make one? She chided herself. Ah, but that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Despite the fact they’d spent most of the day together, she hadn’t expected it quite so soon . . . And he’d created the setting perfectly. Ah, but she must gather herself. She was a widow, she reminded herself staunchly. He had already called her young. She mustn’t act the virginal miss to be put to the blush.
    Which, of course, she was.
    “Come sit,” Gray invited. He seated her in a velvety divan before the fire, then filled a small plate for her and poured a generous portion of wine into a crystal glass. Claire ate from the plate and drank deeply of the ruby liquid in the glass.
    “How do you find the wine?” he asked.
    “It’s excellent.”
    She realized that he’d planned to bring her here all along. She would be fine, she told herself, as long as she kept her head.
    But her tongue was loosened by the champagne—and now the wine. She ran a finger around the rim of her glass. She could feel the quick hard pounding of her heart throughout her body.
    “Did you bring me here to seduce me?” she heard herself say.
    He leaned back. “What do you think?”
    Claire raised a brow. The half smile that creased his lips widened ever so slightly.
    “I wonder how you would go about it.” She marveled at her audacity.
    He pretended to consider. “Hmmm. Flowers, I think. Wine. I would flatter you. Whisper endearments in your ear. I would tell you your lips are the same blushing pink of the roses. I would tell you I long to sip the wine from your lips, run my tongue along your lips and taste it.”
    His tongue? Claire was shocked. She had never imagined such a thing, but she must maintain her charade.
    “Is that why you brought me here?”
    “My dear Claire, at the risk of sounding boorish, I need not resort to seduction. There is no need.”
    “Yet you’ve created the setting.”
    “Yet you are here.”
    A rush of heat stung her cheeks. The insufferable wretch.
    “You are audacious.”
    “I am