Love's Portrait Read Free Page A

of extreme satisfaction. Nothing would go wrong. She was certain of it, and she was going to enjoy auctioning off one of St. Claire’s handkerchiefs. She would be the first woman to own one that hadn’t been given in a moment of pity.

Chapter 2
     
    Morgan St. Claire caught the faint aroma of citrus on his left as he reached for his wine glass. Every muscle in his body was tight with expectation. A sensation he’d not been able to rid himself of from the first moment he’d seen Julia Westgard’s portrait. His head tilted to one side, Morgan listened half-heartedly to Edward Parkinson drone on about his racing horses as he studied Julia out of the corner of his eye.
    The rich-colored blue of her gown enhanced the warm peach tone of her skin. She was like a tempting dessert he wanted to keep all for himself. His gaze lingered on the rounded top of her breasts and the dark cleft between them. Although he couldn’t see them, he knew her nipples were a deep mauve color.
    His cock stiffened slightly at the thought of Julia’s portrait. Ever since his first glimpse of the painting, it had kept him awake more nights than he cared to admit. Particularly when Peebles had snatched the cloth from him and hidden the nude from view before Morgan had barely had time to appreciate the artwork or its subject.
    It had been quite by accident that he’d even seen Julia’s provocative portrait. Morgan had visited Peebles studio to view a painting of a friend. As always, Jonathan had been late, and while waiting, Morgan had inadvertently dislodged the material over Julia’s portrait. The partial view had been so entrancing he’d exposed the rest of the portrait despite Peebles’s outrage.
    The fact that the artist had refused to offer up any information regarding his subject had been frustrating. Morgan had even hired a street urchin to watch the artist’s studio, but the boy had provided him with nothing useful in his attempts to find the woman in the portrait. It made him think Peebles had warned the lady of Morgan’s interest and other arrangements had been made with regard to her sittings.
    Morgan had been stumped as to how to find the subject of Peebles’s painting, and when Julia had walked into his shipping office near the docks, he’d been rendered speechless. He was never at a loss for words, but it had taken him several minutes to gather his wits when she’d arrived with her lawyer to discuss investing in his company. The woman in the portrait had been that of a sensual, sultry woman accustomed to pleasing a man and enjoying the same in return. But the Julia who’d entered his office was vastly different from the woman he’d imagined.
    In fact, she was a challenge. With her cool exterior and impervious resistance to his flirtations, she only managed to increase his determination to reveal the woman he’d seen in the portrait. With an understanding nod in Parkinson’s direction to indicate he empathized with the man’s problems, Morgan turned his head to look directly at Julia.
    She was still engrossed in conversation with another of his investors, and it afforded him the opportunity to study her profile for a moment. She wore her auburn hair up, leaving her slender neck exposed while revealing the delicate shape of her ear. His mouth went dry at the thought of nibbling at the spot where her neck met the gentle indentation of her shoulder. A wisp of hair had broken loose from her upswept hair and brushed against her soft-looking skin. He almost reached out to touch it, but caught himself in time.
    Damnation, he needed to control his fascination with her. One way or another he intended to have Julia Westgard in his bed, but he wasn’t about to let his cock lead him about like a dog on a leash. His lust for the woman had already made him break one of his most important rules. Never mix business with pleasure. Until Julia, it had never been an issue. He knew it had been a serious error in judgment to agree to let her