Redemption Read Free Page A

with her pride or reputation intact. Indeed, far the
opposite was true; her social and personal humiliation was about to
be served to her on a platter for half of London to see.
    At
first, she refused to look at anyone as she waited for doom to
reach her. Tears gathered on her lashes but she blinked them away
and squared her jaw while she gathered as much courage as she could
to face her step-brother at his most scornful. Her mind raced to
find the best way to get out of the situation, but she couldn’t
think past anything other than what Ben was going to think of
her.
    “Please,” she gasped when Ben still made no attempt to step
away.
    She was
horrifyingly aware that with each passing moment more and more
people were coming outside to see what was happening. She pushed
hard at his shoulders in a futile attempt to get him to put several
steps between them. Although she kept her eyes averted, she was
painfully aware that he was staring at her.
    Was he
waiting for her to look at him? Would she see hatred and accusation
in his eyes too?
    “Lizzie,” he growled in a voice that was neither shocked nor
surprised.
    She
gasped at the sound of her name on his lips. Something in his
voice, a hint of regret, drew her gaze up to his in spite of her
best attempts to avoid it. To her stunned disbelief, in spite of
the group of onlookers just a few feet away, he stepped forward
and, in a tender gesture of comfort, rested his forehead against
hers.
    “Sweet
Jesus, Lizzie” he muttered, still reeling from the ferocity of the
passion that had roared to life between them so swiftly that he had
forgotten everything. It had been the last thing he had expected
when he had started this. The strength of desire unmanned him, and
now prevented him from turning around to face her step-brother
until the worst of the visible effects on his body had eased. He
was glad now that they were outdoors, and not inside somewhere
where light would reveal to everyone just how much of a profound
effect this beautiful young woman had on him. He didn’t need to
look behind him to know that Julian had company. If he was honest,
the quiet hum of voices was just what he wanted to hear. Being
discovered with Lizzie in his arms served his purposes exactly. He
just couldn’t tell her that yet.
    He urged
her to look at him and swore silently at what he saw when she did.
She looked as though she was about to burst into tears but he
couldn’t become distracted by her upset just yet. It was time to
put the next phase of his plan into action.
    Eventually, the cool air soothed his heated flesh and he
slowly eased away from her. Finally able to face her step-brother,
he mentally prayed that he would get the opportunity to speak with
her before she left for home but right now needed to dispatch her
step-brother and his entourage.
    Lizzie
waited and waited for someone to say something, for Ben to move, or
her step-brother to speak. Time passed slowly as the tension
increased tenfold and became almost palpable. Julian was glaring at
them, arrogantly waiting for Ben to explain himself. The derisive
look of disgust on his face was stark in the darkness of the night,
and Lizzie knew she had undoubtedly just made the biggest mistake
of her life. She had handed her total and complete ruination to her
step-brother single-handedly, and he was going to milk the
opportunity to destroy her in every way possible, she just knew it.
When she couldn’t bear the sight of the smug, self-righteous
arrogance on his face any more she turned to face Ben.
    To her
surprise, he looked thoughtful rather than angry but, shockingly,
also a little worried. Was that because he finally realised he had
been kissing her and not Melissa? Was he worried Melissa was going
to find out? Embarrassed heat flooded her cheeks and fuelled her
regrets to the point that she couldn’t stand the awkward silence a
moment longer.
    “I am
sorry,” she burst out, her voice full of angst. “I should have told
you who