A Perfect Scandal Read Free Page B

narrow waist, slender hips, and the curve of a full breast.
    Her striking sable hair was loose, unlike at the Holloways’ ball, and hung in thick waves down her back. Her only jewelry was two mother-of-pearl combs, sweeping the hair from her face, revealing blue eyes and delicately boned features.
    He had thought her a beautiful woman last night, but here…now…amongst the backdrop of eroticism, dressed as she was, she was exquisite.
    Immediately, his guard came up. “What are you doing here?”
    “I need you, Mr. Hawksley.”
    It was the last thing he had expected to hear, and the most damaging thing she could have said to his already overstimulated senses.
    “What are you talking about?” His voice sounded harsh to his own ears.
    She stepped closer, and her perfume—a subtle scent of lilacs—wafted toward him.
    “I need your help, Marcus.”
    Marcus. At the sound of his Christian name on her lips, his heart pounded an erratic rythm.
    He realized he was staring, gawking at her. “Help you?” he asked, coming to his senses. “Do you realize what will happen if we are found alone like this, especially here, in this room?”
    He shifted to the side, looking behind her. “Where is your chaperone? Your father?”
    “I’m alone, of course.”
    “But why?”
    She stepped even closer, her ripe body swaying like that of a skilled courtesan, yet surrounded by an aura of innocence. The contradiction was fascinating and alluring all at once. She looked, quite simply, like a sacrificial virgin in one of the frescoes on the wall.
    Looking him straight in the eye, she said, “I need to have a liaison, and I want it to be with you.”
    He stood absolutely still and wondered if he had heard her correctly. After a moment, realization dawned on him, and he chuckled. “Is this some kind of joke?”
    “Why would you think that?”
    “After not seeing you for all these years, you approach me at Lady Holloway’s ball and very forwardly ask me to dance. Then the next day you show up here”—he spread his arm toward the debauchery in the room—“and ask me to become your lover. If this is not a joke, then what else can it be?”
    A thoughtful smile curved her mouth. “I assure you, Marcus, this isn’t a joke.”
    “However did you find me?”
    “I rummaged through my father’s files to find your business address. Father is a member of the Stock Exchange, you see. When I arrived at your place of business, your secretary, James Smith, was leaving the building and told me where you had gone. So this is no joke. I’m quite serious about my offer.”
    He shook his head. “I spent a summer at your father’s country manor when you were twelve years old. You were an adorable child, creating mischief, exasperating your elders, and training your younger twin siblings to follow your example. I was fond of you and your father and that’s why I feel obligated to speak some sense into you.”
    She held up a slender hand and rolled her eyes. “Not another lecture. I’ve received one too many lately.”
    “Not enough, judging by your behavior. Respectable young women who are unmarried debutantes don’t wander around unchaperoned propositioning men to have affairs. Especially a man with a black cloud hovering over his head.”
    “Exactly,” she said. “That’s why you are perfect. My father has arranged a match for me, you see. A much older, domineering lord.”
    “He sounds quite acceptable. Your father has your best interests at heart.”
    She pouted, showing full, red lips…very kissable lips.
    “I don’t love Lord Walling. He’s thirty-three years my senior, has no interest in who I am, and he waddles.”
    Marcus had to drag his gaze from her mouth to her flashing blue eyes. “He sounds even better. What do you need me for?”
    “I need to create a scandal, ruin my reputation. It’s the only way to get out of Lord Walling’s trap and to stop my father’s relentless matchmaking. Only then will I be free to