All I Want for Christmas...is you Read Online Free

Unfortunately,
we both lost our mother’s young. Bram is a mix between overly
protective and conspirator.” She added, “He and I were raised deep
in the North Country where I’m afraid our guardians were a bit
indulgent. The duchess’s widower son and a set of servants, is whom
we fell to. She is our father’s aunt. He too passed on some four
years ago.”
    “My condolences.”
    She nodded. “My brother and I are close,
friends as well as siblings, so it has been interesting to say the
least, these years and formal seasons.”
    “I noticed that,” Lucas murmured exhaling
smoke, “your poise and composure. It is rather an admirable fete
for any young woman entering the society, from deep in the country.
They do so love to keep the younger set in awe of them.”
    Her brow arched. “That is interesting and
flattering…that you noticed, my lord, considering you are among
those whom even a woman of my stern nerves finds herself bracing to
meet.”
    His gaze skimmed her face before coming to
meet her eyes again. “Had I been aware of it, Miss Shyer, I would
have put such unnecessary anxiety to rest years ago where you are
concerned.” Lucas was aware he was flirting, nearing another
territory indeed as new as he was to such things, when he added, “I
regret we were not introduced before tonight.”
    She was surprised obviously, but covered it
in glancing away, somewhere over his shoulder and murmuring, “You
are very kind, my lord.” Her gaze touched his again. “Such social
skills that make a woman feel flattered and at ease, is an
admirable trait.”
    Lucas saw her brother heading toward them and
said, “Not at all, my dear. I assure you I have considered
approaching you many times over the years.” He caught her startled
blink just before he turned to the viscount and thanked him for the
warm brew. Then put out his cheroot and took a sip. Flickering his
gaze to her as her brother handed her a glass of some steaming
wassail.
    “I am to the card room, Rena.” Her brother
bussed her cheek and muttered, “Lady Manning has spotted me and
chased me damn near across the room with that giggling chit of
hers. Sorry to abandon you, but his lordship will escort you in, if
you don’t mind, Lucas?”
    “Not at all.” Lucas laughed at his grimace.
“Duck and run while you can, old boy. I believe I heard that her
ladyship has been chatting about on blond and gold eyed
grandchildren.”
    While the man choked on a sip of his drink
and slipped off, Lucas’s lingering chuckle sounded and blended with
his sisters.
    “Poor Bram,” she said finally shaking her
head. “He was born with much too much handsomeness. I fear his ease
with the female sex, as they make his roguish life too easy for
him, makes him all the more attractive to those hopeful debs. Their
Mama’s see it as a challenge, I think, to snare the
unattainable.”
    “Yes. Radcliff suffers the same affliction.
Though I suspect he is a bit more cynical than your brother.”
    “Jaded, yes.” She met his gaze. “But I like
him. When he does visit at my brother’s home, he has no
pretenses.”
    Lucas tried to discern if she was testing to
see if his own interaction with her held such. He forgot somewhere,
probably when he crossed into flirting, that males of Jerome and
Bram’s age were more suited to a woman her age.
    He said, “It’s an effect that people
sometimes adopt to appear something they are not. Jerome is as he
is, and that is why he makes friends with men such as your brother
and myself. We too value that rare intimacy where one may be
oneself and not ones title or some rep society has built around
us.”
    Her gaze held his for another string of
heartbeats before she murmured, “It is interesting then, my lord,
and enlightening to discover that even those we think may be of one
character are more than pillars of polished ivory.”
    He let her take a sip of wassail before he
returned, “You’re an attractive woman, Miss Shyer. Even