Twin of Ice by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online Page A

about last night.”
    Leander took her home and nearly shoved her from the carriage before driving away.
    Blair was standing on the porch.
    “We need to talk,” Houston said to her sister, but Blair only nodded, following her sister mutely into the little rose garden, away from the house.
    “How could you do this to me?” Houston began. “What kind of morals do you have that you can go out with a man once and sleep with him? Or am I assuming too much? You did sleep with him?”
    Mutely, Blair nodded.
    “After one evening?” Houston was incredulous.
    “But I was you! ” Blair said. “I was engaged to him. I assumed you always…After he kissed me like that, I thought for sure that the two of you…”
    “We what?” Houston gasped. “You mean you thought we repeatedly…made love? Do you think I would have asked you to trade places if that had been true?”
    Blair hid her face in her hands. “I didn’t think. I couldn’t think. After the reception, he took me to his house, and—.”
    “ Our house,” Houston said. “The one I’ve spent months decorating, preparing for my marriage.”
    “There were candles and caviar and roast duck and champagne, lots of champagne. He kissed me and I kept drinking champagne and there were the candles and his eyes and I couldn’t stop myself. Oh, Houston, I’m sorry. I’ll leave Chandler. You’ll never have to see me again. Leander will forgive us after a while.”
    “No doubt he kissed you and you saw red,” she said in a voice heavy with sarcasm.
    “With little gold and silver sparks.” Blair was quite serious.
    Houston was gaping at her sister. What in the world was she talking about? Champagne and candles? Had Lee tried to seduce his fiancé? Had he planned something that had backfired so that he’d spent the night with the wrong sister?
    Or was Blair the wrong sister?
    “What was his kiss like?” Houston asked softly.
    Blair looked shocked. “Don’t torture me. I’ll try to make it up to you, Houston, I swear I will, no matter what I have to do. I’ll—.”
    “What was his kiss like?” she asked louder.
    Blair sniffed and her sister handed her a handkerchief. “You know what they’re like. I don’t need to describe them.”
    “I don’t think I do know.”
    Blair hiccupped. “It was…It was wonderful. I never thought a man as cool as Lee could have so much fire. When he touched me…” She looked up at her sister. “Houston, I’ll go to Lee and explain that it was all my fault, that it was my idea to trade places and that you were entirely innocent. I don’t see why anyone but the three of us should ever know what happened. We’ll sit down together and talk and he’ll understand what happened.”
    Houston leaned forward. “Will he? How will you explain that I wanted to spend the evening with another man? Will you tell Lee that his mere touch enflamed you so that you couldn’t control yourself? That will certainly be a contrast to the frigid Miss Houston Chandler.”
    “You’re not frigid!”
    Houston was silent for a moment. “All Lee could talk about was how magnificent you were last night. He’s not going to like someone inexperienced after you….”
    Blair’s head came up. “I’d never made love to anyone before. Lee was the first.”
    Houston wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be overcome with admiration. She was scared to death of her wedding night, and she was sure there wasn’t enough champagne in the world to make her react as Blair had done. Lee’s kisses had never made her forget anything.
    “Houston, do you hate me?” Blair asked softly.
    She considered this. It was odd, but she wasn’t even jealous. Her main thought was that now Lee was going to want the same thing from her, and how could she live up to what Blair had done? Maybe Blair had learned how in medical school but at Miss Jones’s School for Young Ladies in Virginia, they taught that a woman’s place was in the parlor, and no mention was made of what went