The Wicked Game (A Wicked Game Novel) by Olivia Fuller Read Free Book Online

satisfied with that. A sense of need welled up inside of her and she lifted her head from the man’s shoulder and tried, urgently, to kiss him. He gracefully turned his head and Angela missed her mark.
    Smart man! She thought.
    What had she been thinking? Of course! This was too public! But soon she would have her way. She would entice him into a dark and distant corner and when she opened her mouth for him, he would not resist. She would kiss him passionately, and then fiercely, and he would belong to her.
    Angela heard a gasp come from the crowd. She reluctantly disconnected herself from her dance partner’s body and leaned back to look at him straight in the face.
    The man was Andrew.
    And this had to be a dream.
    ***
    Andrew had just drifted off to sleep when he was awakened by an urgent sounding pound on his door. He just had enough time to pull his shirt over his head before Sarah walked in.
    “Mr. Andrew, you’re needed quite urgently downstairs.”
    She was wringing her hands together nervously as if something were very wrong.
    “What am I needed for? It has to be well past midnight now!”
    “Well you see,” Sarah began tentatively, “Miss Bennett needs some help getting up the stairs to her room.”
    Andrew furrowed his brow in confusion. “And exactly why can’t she do it herself? Has she forgotten how to use her legs? Besides, where are her brothers and father?”
    “They are, umm, quite busy right now.” Sarah wasn’t quite sure how to explain it without dishonoring the Baron’s daughter. “It seems that Miss Mary got a hold of some… some drink and Miss Bennett drank some. More than some I suppose…”
    “Ha!” Andrew couldn’t help himself. “So she went and got herself sloshed? I wouldn’t have expected that. Please go tell her mother I will be right down.”
    Sarah nodded and left the room as Andrew got out of bed and finished dressing himself. He hadn’t even reached the bottom of the stairs yet and he could already hear the ruckus that was going on down there. When he finally caught sight of the small crowd of women it was very easy to pick out Miss Bennett. She was swaying wildly from side to side yelling what sounded like nothing more than nonsense. Her mother looked very worried and even Mary, who he assumed had been drinking as well and was only slightly more composed, was showing great concern for her cousin as well. Andrew felt a sudden wave of delight fill his body as he realized that Miss Bennett might not be as two dimensional as he had first assumed.
    “ There you are!” Miss Bennett’s voice rang through the hall and she hiccupped several times.
    She put her hands on her hips and zigzagged her way over to him. He wanted to smirk but he didn’t dare do so while her female relatives were looking. As Miss Bennett finally reached him she stubbed her foot on the bottom of the stairs and fell into him, her hands landing solidly on his firm chest.
    She giggled. “Oh my!” Then she grabbed his arm, much tighter than she should have, and let him lead her up the stairs.
    “This is qu—qu—very odd.”
    Andrew was not sure what she meant. “What is odd, Miss Bennett?”
    “Well,” she began as if the answer was obvious, “Why on earth would my mother let a man take me to my room?”
    She had barely finished her sentence because she tripped on her own feet and nearly fell flat on her face. Andrew reacted quickly and managed to pull her up tight to him.
    She gave him a look that he was quite familiar with receiving from women. “I don’t mind it.”
    “Mind what?”
    “That a man is taking me to my room.”
    Andrew was unsure exactly what to say so he answered with the obvious. “I am a servant. This is very acceptable.”
    Miss Bennett shook her head awkwardly. “No, no, no, no, no. You sir are most definitely a man!”
    Andrew breathed out heavily. “Yes. But in this situation I am a servant first.”
    An angry look spread across her face and she reached out and