Twice Fallen Read Free Page A

directly gain information. His methods were much more subtle. “Though I confess I am no longer accustomed to the workings of the
ton
.”
    Lady Lillian, he discovered then, was not predictable. He anticipated she’d either comment she’d heard of him, or ask him why he’d been absent from the exalted circle he mentioned, but she did neither. Instead she rose in a flurry of rose silk and violet perfume.
    “I need to get back to the ball and cannot be seen leaving the same room as you. As unlikely as it would bethat anyone would be observing the library, will you still please do me the favor of waiting a decent interval before rejoining the party?”
    And here the evening had just taken on a warm new glow and she wished to leave.
    Fortunately he was a master at negotiation.
    His smile was affable. “Of course.” He paused. “If you will tell me why you prefer this dark library to the festivities.”
    “You set
conditions
on being a gentleman?”
    Damien didn’t blink an eye. “Absolutely. I think you will find I set conditions on everything.”
    Strategy was a simple matter usually.
Judge your opponent and react accordingly
.
    “I will find?” she repeated delicately, and truthfully, he found the phrasing odd himself.
    Damien Northfield, who once might have been more important to the campaign on the Iberian Peninsula than even the Duke of Wellington, was not sure how to respond.
    “Should we meet again,” he equivocated and watched her give a nod and move gracefully toward the door.
    He liked the sway of her hips.
    He also admired the curve of her spine, and the soft color of her hair in the lamplight.
    Oh, yes
, he vowed silently,
we will meet again
.
    For she had not answered his question.

Chapter 2
     
    S

he may never have risen at dawn and gone to the field in an early London mist, but Lily recognized a duel when one took place. It was clear enough as she walked the length of the library with as much dignity as possible to make her way back toward the ballroom, that Damien Northfield—
Lord
Damien Northfield—had just challenged her.
    And she had no idea how to feel about it.
    Even as she reached for the ornate key left in the lock, she tried to recall what she knew of him. It wasn’t much actually, she realized. His brother was the Duke of Rolthven, but other than knowing he’d been in the war to the bitter end and wounded in the last battle, hence his pronounced limp, she couldn’t really say she’d heard much about him.
    That alone was interesting.
    Lord Damien was a stranger.
    Tall, his chestnut hair thick and just slightly wavy from what she could see without adequate lamplight, his mouth curved in a faintly sardonic smile. His features were classically modeled in angles, the line of his nose straight, his mouth sensual, and while he was undeniablyhandsome, oddly enough that was not what first struck her. It was more the intensity of his dark eyes.
    And here she’d thought she had met every eligible bachelor in society, thanks to the formidable—some would say terrifying—Dowager Duchess of Eddington. In retrospect, it was one matter to fall under the surveillance of her discerning eye, and quite another to become her special project. Her older brother, Jonathan, was entirely to blame for that, as he’d married the dowager’s granddaughter and brought Lillian’s notoriety and unwed state into focus. Now she was left to suffer with having one very determined aristocratic matron trying to repair her damaged reputation and marry her off. She wished the duchess luck. It wasn’t going to be an easy task and certainly wouldn’t be helped by her prolonged absence this evening.
    The lock was stiff and ruined her grand departure as she struggled to turn the key.
    Then disaster struck.
    Not a small disaster either, a
large
one.
    The key broke off in her hand. It was big, ornate, and obviously antique, and even as she held up the handle and gazed in dismay at the twisted metal, she realized that no