The Redemption of a Dissolute Earl Read Free Page B

betrothed.”
Salisbury’s arm slid around Char to pull her flush up against his
chest. Drew stepped forward to rip the man’s arm out of its socket
for touching Char so intimately, but like a pesky fly that wouldn’t
go away, Edgeworth appeared out of the shadows and placed himself
between Drew and the man he intended to harm bodily.
    “Move,” Drew demanded of his cousin.
    “I’m afraid I can’t,” Edgeworth replied,
putting his back to Drew, then extending his hand to Char and
bowing. “Felicitations are in order then?”
    What the bloody hell ? Drew knew the
whiskey made him slow tonight, but why would Edgeworth be offering
felicitations to Char for cuddling up to a man who was betrothed to
another woman? Drew’s patience snapped, and just as his traitor
cousin’s lips grazed the hand of the woman who belonged, body and
soul, to Drew, he shoved Edgeworth out of the way.
    “Char,” Drew said urgently. “You’re better
than this illicit affair.” He motioned to the marquess. “I hardly
think taking up with Salisbury will replace what you and I
have.”
    Char shook her head, sending her bright red
curls cascading over her shoulders. She stepped out of Salisbury’s
arms, but his hand remained on the small of her back serving to
further Drew’s annoyance. “You’re drunk, Lord Hardwick,” Char said
coldly.
    “I’m not,” he protested.
    “You smell like a bottle of whiskey.”
    “That’s just his normal smell, Miss Milne,”
Edgeworth offered unhelpfully.
    “ My point exactly .” Char frowned at
Drew. “I hardly need you to lecture me on who I can take up
with.”
    “Miss Milne!” a voice screeched from the
darkness. “They’re holding the play for you!”
    “Perfect,” Char mumbled. “Now you’ve made me
late.” She glared pointedly at Drew, as if he was the only one who
had made her late.
    “Char―” he began, but she turned her back
toward him.
    “If you’ll excuse me?” she asked Salisbury
in such a sweet voice that Drew wanted to throttle the man. That
honey voice was for Drew only.
    Her sweet question may have been directed at
Salisbury―confirmed by the arse’s nod―but Drew sure as hell
wouldn’t excuse Char. He needed to tell her he wanted to marry her.
He needed to tell her what a bloody fool he’d been. The Marquess of
Salisbury brushed a kiss on Char’s cheek. That bloody well did
it!
    Drew lunged forward, grabbing the man’s arm.
“Keep your lips off my woman.”
    “Your woman?” came Char’s incredulous gasp.
“I’m not your woman. I despise you.”
    God, she was beautiful when angry. Drew
smiled at her loveliness. Her eyes narrowed on him.
    “I rue the day I met you and how foolish and
easy I was.”
    “You were not easy,” he offered, then
realized how crass it sounded. “Char―”
    She held her palm toward him. “Not another
word.”
    He nodded. He wanted to say more―such as
telling her that her burning eyes made him want to kiss her from
head to toe―but he’d mucked it up fairly well already. Best to stay
quiet for the moment, until she spent her anger.
    “I don’t know why you have finally sought me
out—”
    Hell . He had to answer that.
“Then let me explain.”
    “Don’t waste your time. Or mine . I
don’t care. I don’t want your feeble explanations or
apologies.”
    “What do you want?” he asked, his chest
tightening with new worry.
    “I want you to leave me alone.” She stepped
around him, and he grabbed her arm.
    “Char,” he pleaded, desperation taking hold.
This was not the reunion he had imagined. Not even close. “I need
to tell you—”
    She shoved him hard in the chest. “Didn’t
you hear me?”
    “I heard you,” Edgeworth supplied.
    “Shut up,” Drew snarled, surprised to hear
Char’s voice echo his words exactly.
    Char turned to Drew, her lips trembling, her
eyes two slits of bright green anger. “Has your conscience finally
caught up with you?”
    That was hardly the way he’d put it, but he
doubted