Forbidden Love Read Free

become aware of his presence.
    The musicians played a fanfare; a space was cleared in the middle of the floor. A round table was pushed into that space, a beautiful Oriental table of teak with marble inlay, and a young woman was lifted to stand in its center.
    “To our guest of honor!” Donovan cried, leading a round of huzzahs. The woman, slender yet shapely, laughed and bowed in response. Then, at a signal from Donovan, the musicians struck up again; the tune they played was a rollicking Irish reel.
    “Give us a dance, missy!” Donovan’s jovial entreaty was joined by a chorus of other voices. The womanon the table tucked the hem of her blue dress into her sash, displaying a froth of ruffled petticoats and slender, white-stockinged legs. Kicking up her blue-slippered heels, she complied with a gaiety that brought a glint of appreciation to Justin’s eyes. Still unnoticed by all, he admired the girl’s truly lovely legs, which were on view up to the lace-edged hems of her pantalets.
    Her hair, beginning to slip from its pins to cascade down her back in a tangle of waist-length curls, was crow black. He stared. Something tugged at his memory. She swung around to face him. He saw a willful little chin, laughing, rosy lips, a small elegantly carved nose, skin as pale and silky as a virgin’s wedding dress—then his gaze rose to meet head-on eyes as purple as pansies, set at a slant under straight black brows and fringed by incredibly thick lashes. Those same eyes widened to the size of saucers as they met his; recognition hit Justin with the force of a poleax. He straightened abruptly away from the doorjamb, an oath rising to his lips, while his ward— his ward! —stopped dancing with all the grace of a marionette with its strings cut.
    “Get down!” he roared, striding forward to make sure she stopped her disgraceful exhibition before it could go any further. She didn’t wait for his assistance, but hopped nimbly down from the table before he could reach her, prudently skipping around behind it so that its bulk stood between them before stopping to stare at him with a mixture of unease and defiance. At Justin’s bellow, the music had come to a crashinghalt. As he stood glowering at the shameless minx, he became aware of twenty-nine pairs of eyes regarding him with varying degrees of horror. A thick silence descended over the gathering. Opening his mouth to favor Megan with a scathing appraisal of her performance, he recollected their audience and temporarily swallowed his words, although from her expression she was in no doubt of his sentiments.
    “I will see you in the library in one hour!” he told her, the words forcing themselves out from between clenched teeth. She said nothing, but her chin lifted defiantly. He swung away from her before his temper could get the better of his self-control, his eyes sweeping the assembled company in a way that made them cower before him.
    “My—my lord!” Donovan, trying vainly to restore some semblance of order to his person, was hurrying toward him. Mrs. Donovan, chewing nervously on her lower lip, was right behind him. The other servants gratefully yielded to the pair’s seniority, looking very much as if they wished to become invisible. “We—we didn’t expect you, my lord!”
    “Obviously.”
    “My lord, we—I… ” Donovan was stuttering as he tried to find a way to explain the unexplainable. Justin ruthlessly interrupted his faltering efforts.
    “I require a bath in my chamber within ten minutes,” he told his perspiring butler in a tone that boded ill for everyone. “And something in the way of dinner precisely twenty minutes after that.” Hiseyes moved beyond Donovan to fix on his unhappy-looking wife.
    “As for the other,” Justin’s gaze flashed to the rest of the group. “I will have something to say to you—all of you!—tomorrow. For now, you will go about your business!”
    “Yes, my lord,” Donovan murmured unhappily. Justin did not