To Tempt An Angel (Book 1 Douglas series) Read Free Page B

nonchalance.
    “Another time,” Angelica said in refusal. “I’ll tell you the whole story when I have written the final page.”
    Robert cocked a dark brow at her. “Are you planning revenge, angel?”
    The door burst open suddenly, ending their conversation. Two young women hurried inside. Both appeared younger than Angelica. One had black hair and limped and the other was a redhead, yet the three sisters resembled one another.
    “Robert, may I present Samantha.” Angelica gestured to the ebony-haired girl. “And this is Victoria. Sisters, meet Robert Roy.”
    “Rob Roy?” Samantha exclaimed with a smile.
    “You must be joking,” Victoria said.
    “Mind your manners,” Aunt Roxie admonished them. “Ladies of quality do not insult guests.”
    “Ladies of quality do not run a thimblerigger’s game,” Angelica told her aunt.
    “Nor do they pick pockets,” Samantha said, emptying her pockets of coins.
    “And they do not engage in disreputable activities,” Victoria added, placing her own day’s earnings on the table. “You know, dear aunt, disreputable activities like telling people’s fortunes, calling up the dead in a seance, or selling love potions.”
    “Hush, darlings, we need the money,” Aunt Roxie replied. “I do what I can to help out.”
    Angelica gestured to Robert, saying, “Let’s walk outside.”
    Once the cottage door closed behind them, Robert asked, “Your sisters are pickpockets?”
    “I’m afraid so,” she answered.
    “And your aunt is a charlatan?”
    “Aunt Roxie is no charlatan,” Angelica told him. “She has a special gift.”
    Robert tried hard not to laugh in her face but couldn’t quite suppress his smile. “Do you actually believe in that?”
    “Yes, I do,” Angelica said. “I possess a similar, albeit undeveloped, gift. “
    “The sight of you did bewitch me,” Robert said, gifting her with his devastatingly charming smile.
    Angelica stared in the direction of Primrose Hill.  “Samantha limps because one of her legs is slightly shorter than the other,” she said without looking at him. “A wealthy gentleman, one of the men who ruined my father, ran over her with his carriage. We couldn’t afford a physician to set the broken bone.”
    “I’m sorry,” Robert replied.
    “That happened a long time ago,” Angelica told him. “Victoria has a problem with letters and numbers.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “She can’t read properly or cipher numbers,” Angelica said, turning toward him. “Other than that the Douglases are a normal family.”
    Robert laughed. “I’ll come by tomorrow to check on your father.”
    “You want to consort with people like us?” Angelica asked.
    Robert leaned close, his face merely inches from hers, and said in a husky whisper, “I’d love to consort with you.”
    Ever so gently, Robert drew her into his embrace. His face hovered above hers for the briefest moment and then descended as he moved one hand to the back of her head to hold her immobile.
    Their lips met in a chaste kiss. When she relaxed in his arms, Robert changed the tempo of the kiss.  His lips on hers became ardent and demanding; his tongue persuaded her lips to part, tasting the sweetness beyond them.
    And then it was over.
    Robert drew back and studied her expression, knowing she’d just experienced her first kiss. He traced finger down her silken cheek and rubbed his thumb across her lips.
    “May I have my watch back now?” Robert asked, gazing deeply into her disarming blue eyes.
    Angelica blushed. “I-I don’t know what you mean.”
    “You lifted the watch out of my pocket when we were attacked,” Robert told her.
    Angelica reached into her pocket and produced the watch. “It looks like real gold,” she remarked, passing it to him.
    “It is real gold.”
    “How can you—?”
    Robert planted a quick kiss on her lips and then whistled for his horse, grazing a short distance away. The horse returned to his side in an instant.
    “You