The Wedding Chase by Rebecca Kelley Read Free Book Online Page B

her full white bosom. “We’ll be back on old terms.”
    “Such a dreamer.” Newton stared at her and barked out a hard-edged laugh. “Perhaps our Miss Fleetwood is a libertine. She is known to be outspoken on the rights of women, and some of that mind do not have conventional views on morality.”
    “A libertine?” Melbourne’s vacant smile matched his drawl. “I don’t think tho.”
    “We will attempt to solve this puzzle or scatter its pieces.” Newton ran his nails down the pane of glass. “A sure remedy for the ennui of a country retreat.”
    “I’ll distract Northcliffe.” Isadora grimaced, watching his hand at the window. “And allow you to pursue Miss Fleetwood.”
    Newton smiled, tracing the line of his mustache. “I was certain you would volunteer your services.” He glanced toward the open door of the library. “Here is your victim now.”
    Isadora dashed to the door just as Northcliffe entered and grasped his arm, her voice dripping honey. “Wolf, dear, you are avoiding me. Dinner has been delayed to accommodateyour little injury. We’ll take a turn about the garden. You can tell me all about it.”
    After consuming his postdinner port, Wolfgang led the other men to the drawing room. He could hear Isadora’s irritatingly high voice ring out before he entered the room.
    “I shall scream, if I have to hear one time more about what a Trojan Miss Fleetwood was. It is not at all ladylike to be around blood without fainting.” Isadora turned to the door, her smile sweet and welcoming. “Ah, gentlemen, we were just praising Miss Fleetwood for her bravery.”
    Wolfgang edged toward Zel but was hindered by Isadora’s hand on his sleeve. She pouted. “Come sit with me.”
    Determined not to make a scene, at least not immediately, he reluctantly sat beside her. But he looked to Zel, frowning when Melbourne and Newton flanked her as they had at dinner. Their interest must be piqued by his own. They had not observed her closely enough to see her true value. True value? He nearly snorted out loud. What by the rosy fires of hell did he mean by that? Whatever her value, it was greater than that of this waspish piece of flotsam sharing the sofa with him.
    What had he seen in Isadora? He scanned the woman beside him. Her figure held no appeal. The overabundant curves seemed vulgar next to Zel’s slender suppleness. He watched Zel juggle the attentions of Newton and Melbourne. Satan’s small clothes! Zel Fleetwood’s value, with all that passion buried in her long, sleek body, would be discovered soon enough, when she shared that body with him. Wolfgang smiled at the immediate response of his own body. He was ready, but how would she respond? Would it be with abandonment? Or would she shyly smile at him, a soft blush suffusing her skin from head to toe?
    Isadora tapped his arm, effectively terminating his littlefantasy. Their affair ended months ago but she was unwilling to release him, even following him to this house party. Her pride couldn’t allow her to face his continuing rejection much longer.
    He moved his legs farther from Isadora, catching Zel’s eyes just as Melbourne commandeered her as his partner at whist. Her lips curved in a silent plea for rescue. He would be happy to come to her aid, freeing himself and her of unwanted companions, but not yet. A little more of Melbourne’s company, and she would be begging for relief.
    Wolfgang followed the progress of the whist game as he pretended to listen to Isadora’s conversation. He watched Newton hovering over the card game, a patient scavenger. Chuckling, he glanced around at Melbourne, Isadora, and Newton. A mismatched trio of bloody jackals, waiting to pounce. But who was their intended victim? Zel? Or, having noticed his interest in her, could they be using it to get to him? If so, he had difficulty being frightened.
    But maybe he should be frightened. Maybe they were involved in the attack on him several days before. The attack he