Forbidden (Scandalous Sirens) Read Free Page B

claret,keeping his eye upon Vaughn. “I’m too old.”
    The response came from him unbidden, unplanned. “Very well, I’ll ride with her, then.”
    His father’s face turned purple with anger, but Vaughn barely heard what Rufus was trying to say, for he had seen Elisa’s surprised expression. Then, briefly, a flare of joy followed by a soft, warm smile lifted her lovely full lips. The smile was for him and her eyes sparkled. Vaughn felt his heart give a painful leap in response.
    Then abruptly, all expression was removed and her gaze dropped to her plate, as if she had suddenly remembered her place. But the afterglow bathed Vaughn in a heady warmth that threatened to make his hands tremble.
    Rufus finally found his voice. “You’ll not be here long enough to have idle time on your hands.”
    How like Rufus to dictate how and when he should come and go. Some of the earlier fury leapt in Vaughn’s chest. “Father, long ago you gave up any right to tell me what I can and cannot do.” His voice echoed his anger, emerging low and strained.
    Rufus’ eyes narrowed a little. The moment of silence between them grew and Vaughn knew his father was studying him anew, reassessing. Vaughn did not look away. He had no intention of backing down in this petty game of willpower.
    Finally Rufus cleared his throat with a harsh hack and reached for the wine.
    Vaughn drained his own brandy, needing the small sustenance, knowing he had won but a small victory that would make Rufus all the more determined to bring him down in the very near future. Rufus bent on vengeance was a dangerous man indeed.
    While Rufus called for another decanter, swearing at the lack of foresight of the footman, Vaughn dared to glance at Elisa once more and he recognized fear in her eyes. She shook her head a little, her lips opening as if she breathed a warning. She understood what was happening then.
    Vaughn smiled at her reassuringly, pretending a confidence he did not wholly feel.
    Her hand came to her mouth as if she was distressed and she looked away. After a moment she looked back as if drawn, perhaps reluctantly.
    Vaughn struggled to hide the shock her glance sent through him, for he had understood that searing gaze with perfect clarity.
    Elisa wanted him, too.

Chapter Two
     
    Elisa’s heart ached as if she had run too hard, too far. An invisible hand was squeezing at her insides, making her feel wretchedly ill, but at the same time there was a heady, intoxicating bubbling in her blood and her mind.
    Her entire attention was focused on the man sitting across from her. It was her inability to dismiss him from her mind that made her fearful. She stood to lose far too much if she gave this little attraction any freedom to grow.
    Vaughn Wardell. She let the name roll through her mind. As much as his appearance had surprised her, so did his actual existence. Rufus had never mentioned having a son. There was not a single portrait of the heir to the Fairleigh dynasty to be found anywhere in the manor and she had been in every public room since her arrival a month ago.
    One servant had told Marianne that all portraits of the previous marchioness had been burned. Apparently Rufus wanted no reminder of the woman who had betrayed him—or that woman’s son.
    Elisa had been a little shocked at the barely disguised venom emanating from Rufus. Vaughn’s welcome home had been grim at best. Why did families feel it was permissible to treat each other that way? Against her will, it drew upon her own memories—the hatred Roger’s family had done little to hide from her once he was dead. While Roger had been alive she’d had no idea of the extraordinary depth of that vile emotion buried inside them. Its emergence had been twice as shocking because it had been hidden so completely.
    She studied Vaughn discreetly, wondering if he was reeling from the same sense of shock she had once suffered. Her sympathy rose a little higher. He was hiding it well, for he must