Lord of Fire Read Free Page A

Watching them, Lucien could tell that it cost his brother an intense effort to pay attention to Caro’s empty prattle.
    “What a monstrous dull Little Season, don’t you think? All the best society has gone home to the country for the hunt, or to
Paris or
Vienna—”
    Bored in seconds, Lucien suddenly slipped his hand around Caro’s waist and yanked her to him. “What do you think of this pretty wench, eh, Demon?”
    She fell against his chest with a coy squeal. “Lucien!”
    “Does she not tempt you? I find she tempts me quite to the breaking point,” he murmured meaningfully, tracing the curve of her side with a slow, wicked caress.
    Damien looked at him in shock. What the hell are you doing? his scowl demanded, but perhaps he sensed the note of deviltry in his twin’s smooth voice, for he delayed judgment for a moment, regarding Lucien warily. He knew better than anyone that with Lucien, things were never as they seemed.
    “Doesn’t she look ravishing this evening? You should tell her so.”
    Damien glanced at Caro, then at him. “Indeed.” The single, ominous word rumbled like far-off thunder from the depths of his chest. He studied the woman, as though trying to penetrate her nervous, sugary smile, for he had not been born with Lucien’s gift of seeing past pretense in a glance.
    “Let go of me, Lucien. People are staring,” Caro murmured uneasily, brushing her shoulder against his chest as she tried to squirm free.
    “What’s wrong, mon ange ? You only want my touch in secret?” he asked, his tone silky-smooth, though his grip on her body tightened ruthlessly.
    She froze and stared at him in shock, her brown eyes looking even darker as her face turned white.
    “Time to confess, love. You’ve been trying to manipulate me and my brother, but it’s not going to work. Tell Damien where you were last night.”
    “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she forced out.
    With a look that could have turned her to a pillar of ice, Damien cursed under his breath and turned away. Lucien laughed softly and allowed Caro to shove free of his embrace.
    “Damien, don’t listen to him—you know he is a liar!”
    “You would bat your lashes at me after you’ve lain with my brother?” he whispered fiercely shoving off her clutching hands.
    “But, I—it’s not my fault, it’s his!”
    “You are brazen, madam. Moreover, you are a fool.”
    She whirled to Lucien with a frantic look. “Did you hear what he called me? You can’t let him speak to me like that!”
    But Lucien’s only answer was a small, rather sinister laugh. He took another drink of his wine.
    “What is going on here?” she demanded in a shaky voice.
    “Caro, my heart, the man’s not a fool. There is something I neglected to tell you last night. Damien has been meaning to propose to you.”
    Her jaw dropped. For a moment, she looked as though she couldn’t draw in a breath past the tight stays that pressed up the splendid globes of her breasts; then her stricken gaze flew to Damien’s. “Is this true?”
    “I am sure there is no need to discuss it,” he growled.
    “Is it?” she cried.
    “I merely thought it would be helpful to give your child a father, since he lost his own.” Damien’s frosty glance swept her body, lingering at her hips. “Pity you are unable to temper your wantonness with a little discipline.” His angry gaze swung to Lucien. “A word with you, sir.”
    “As you wish, brother.”
    “Lucien—you can’t leave me!” She clutched at his arm quite without shame.
    “Caro, my pet.” He lifted her hand and kissed it, then let it trail from his grasp as he moved away from her. “He’s right. I’m afraid you failed the test.”
    “Test?” Understanding flashed in her eyes, then rage. “You fiend ! Bastard! Both of you! That’s what you are! A pair of bastards!”
    “Why, everyone knows that, ma chérie ,” Lucien said with smile. “Our mother was an even greater slut than you.”
    With a