Home for the Holidays Read Free Page B

he didn’t mistake the brief show of it that crossed her face before she recollected that she was in the enemy’s camp, so to speak.
    Her attitude was understandable. She was not bubbling over with gratitude for his assistance, just the opposite. Her stiffness, her reticence, both spoke volumes. She no doubt saw him as the enemy, whether she was really aware that he was one or not. He’d put her out of her home. That alone would bring dislike, possibly even hate. Which was why the show of sympathy was so interesting. She had to have quite a compassionate nature to feel sympathy, however brief, for someone she likely despised at the moment.
    She had given a paltry excuse to decline eating with him, and having disposed of it, he wasn’t going to give her another opportunity to refuse a simple meal, especially when it was such a perfect opportunity for them to become better acquainted. He took her arm and led her to the dining room, sat her down and moved away from her to put her at ease. He’d noticed her nervousness as well as her shyness, or rather, her disinclination to look at him directly, and in his experience, there was only one reason for that…
    It was fairly obvious that despite any resentment toward him that she might be harboring, she was still attracted to him.
    It was not unexpected. Women of all ages were drawnnot only to his looks, but to the challenge he represented. They wanted to crack his shell. They couldn’t grasp the fact that cracking it would gain them nothing, since he had nothing inside it to offer.
    As for Larissa, he would have to take full advantage of her attraction to him, to get around her present dislike. And perhaps use her sympathy to his advantage as well. Actually, he decided that anything would be permissible in this seduction. He would be absolutely ruthless about it if he had to. For once, having a lack of emotion and conscience was going to be quite beneficial.
    He took the seat across from her and gave a nod to the waiting servants to begin the meal. It wasn’t until the first course was over that she noticed that he was staring at her in a sensual manner. Her blush was immediate when she did notice. He did not stop.
    Vincent had been told on numerous occasions, in numerous ways, that his eyes revealed his emotions. Which was quite amusing to him since these occasions were usually during sexual interludes and his passions were tepid at best. It was the color of his eyes that gave the impression, he supposed, of more desire than was actually present. Amber jewels, molten gold, devilishly wicked, sexy, he’d heard it all and discounted it all. His eyes were merely a very light shade of brown with a few gold flecks, nothing extraordinary, in his opinion. Of course, livingwith them for twenty-nine years made them quite ordinary to him.
    But if Larissa imagined heated desire in them when he was only admiring her beauty over the entrée, well, that was to his good. He would much prefer to not have to spell it out, this seduction, if she was too dense to realize he was seducing her. And it wasn’t as if she could run off and hide from it, when she had nowhere to run to. He needed only assure her that the choice would be hers to make, and he would do that at an appropriate time. Less than an hour after her arrival was definitely too soon.
    Still—he didn’t stop staring. He knew he should. He simply couldn’t.
    He found it incredible that Ascot had managed to hide this exquisite daughter of his from the
ton,
to keep her under wraps, as it were. This was their third year in London. Surely someone of note would have discovered her by now, particularly since the family had lived in one of the more desirable neighborhoods, well populated with titles. Yet she wasn’t engaged nor being courted, and her name had never reached the gossip mills. This would have been her come-out Season—if her father had been home to “bring her out.”
    He decided to ask, “Why is it you’re unknown