The Viscount's Sweet Temptation Read Free Page B

until Smithers returns. Just think of me as your brother.”
    Her eyes stole a glance down his person before she turned her head away and clutched the blanket to her bosom. “Oh, but you look nothing like Lee.”
    The emphasis on that word intrigued him, bringing out his foolish, flirtatious mood. “Oh? And is he three feet tall and equally wide?”
    Her laugh sent warmth coursing through him. There was nothing artful or scheming about the light ring of her tone. “No, that wasn’t what I meant. Lee is quite fair where you are dark. And quite slender, where you are—”
    “If you dare say that I am the rotund one, I shall dump you out into the mud to wait with the horse Smithers left behind.” He had to fight to keep his brows drawn together. He wanted to smile with her. Wanted to pull her to his side and discover all the ways he could make her laugh.
    She pushed at his arm as if to distance them, the effort useless given his position against the wall. “You are as cruel as Ellie always said! I was going to say you have a much more—oh! But I mustn’t say such a thing.”
    Now he was dying to know what she meant to say, which completely surprised him. She seemed too inexperienced in intimacies to mean anything suggestive, flirtatious. He rarely considered whether a woman found him attractive. He received enough attention from widows, and a few matrons whose husbands were still living, to know he was not lacking in whatever it was that women found desirable in a man. What did Lady Harriet look for in a husband?
    That question stopped him cold.
    Smithers had better be riding like the devil. Remaining in close quarters with Lady Harriet Thornhill could be dangerous to Morley’s freedom.
    Lady Harriet’s laughter slowed, and she let loose a sigh. “This is all my fault. I do apologize, Lord Morley, for damaging your carriage.”
    Anger flared again in his gut and he thought of the scheming Lady Susan. At least she had only threatened his freedom. “You? What did you do, sabotage the wheel?”
    “Of course not. I would never risk anyone’s live, and certainly not my own, no matter what the situation. I merely meant if I hadn’t hidden in here, you wouldn’t have had any problems. All my schemes end up going awry. I don’t know why I even considered trying to thwart Grandpapa.”
    He clenched his teeth and tried to ignore the bitter emotion overwhelming him. While he was upset with the chit for putting him in such a compromising situation, he was reasonable enough to know where her blame ended. “If the wheel was damaged, it would have broken whether or not you were aboard. Now relax. I will not bite, out of anger or any other unfettered emotion.”
    Her weight settled against him. He adjusted the blankets to cover them both and tried to ignore the scent of sweet pea blossoms that stirred whenever the blankets moved. He inhaled deeper and ignored the stirrings in his groin. Her perfume managed to be both virginal and seductive at the same time.
    Sweet temptation.
    Morley shifted on the bench, but that only served to bring Lady Harriet more firmly against his side. His arm, pinned between them, had the agonizing sensation of pins and needles. He lifted it and placed it on her shoulders. “Forgive me, but there is nowhere else to put my arm.”
    “It’s all right.”
    No, it wasn’t all right. There was nothing about the evening that was right, or about the thoughts stirring from her nearness. He wanted to kiss her. Merely a quick peck on those trembling lips to discover if she tasted as sweet as she smelled. Nothing untoward, nothing scandalous. A kiss.
    He must try to distract himself. “When do you suppose your father will discover your absence?”
    She yawned. “Not until morning. I placed the pillows under the bedding so my mother’s nurse will assume I am sleeping.”
    He smiled. “I didn’t know that was a talent many young women required. The ability to slip out unnoticed late at night.”
    “Why,