Patricia Potter Read Online Free Page A

runner, and she looked up slowly, very slowly, until her gaze found the deepest blue eyes she’d ever seen.

CHAPTER 2
     
     
     
    No one was more surprised than Adrian to find a woman in his arms, especially one who had turned her back on him earlier, an unusual occurrence that had both puzzled and interested him.
    Her eyes were wide, startled, as they stared back at him.
    She felt good, too good, and he found he didn’t want to take his hands away, even when she was standing straight again. He justified his failure to release her on a barely perceptible trembling of her body.
    He flashed her the smile that usually garnered him a quick and favorable response. “Are you all right, miss?”
    She stiffened and moved away, causing his arm to let go of her. “Yes, thank you,” she said in a soft accent he couldn’t immediately identify.
    “My pleasure,” he said slowly, meaning it. She was a small thing, slender but not without attractive curves. Her plain gray dress did nothing for her coloring, but her eyes flashed with a kind of golden fire as they regarded him solemnly. “Miss … ?”
    She hesitated, a captivating blush stealing into her cheeks, and again he felt a certain surprise and fascination. He couldn’t remember ever being rebuffed by a woman, possibly, he admitted to himself, because he knew when, and when not, to make advances. Yet he had offered no insult, only assistance and good will, and this woman was regarding him as more villain than savior.
    “Bradley,” she finally said softly. “Lauren Bradley.”
    “A fetching name for a pretty lady,” he said with his most practiced charm. He was determined to get a smile, at least.
    But there was none. She stepped back, her eyes meeting his, and suddenly he felt as if a gale were brewing somewhere deep inside her. Their eyes held, seemingly unable to part, as vivid but indefinable emotions passed through hers, like stormclouds before a hurricane. She took another step backward, bumping into a departing passenger from the clipper and trapping herself between the other passengers and Adrian. And he had no intention of moving back, not until she yielded some of her stiffness.
    He bowed slightly. “I’m Adrian Cabot,” he said, and took her elbow. “I would dislike your first visit to our island to be an unhappy one, and I believe your near disaster is all my fault. I hope you’ll accept my apologies.”
    “Your fault?” She had wrenched her eyes away from his face, and her voice held a slight tremble.
    Adrian looked several feet away, to where a monkey perched, an innocent expression on his face. He was wearing a pair of sailor’s trousers and a mate’s hat. “That little scamp belongs to me. He apparently escaped my cabin. He likes to hide under wide skirts, and apparently he saw yours.”
    He braced himself for anger, but it didn’t come. Instead, those fascinating eyes suddenly, unexpectedly, twinkled. “I can honestly say it was a unique welcome, Mr. Cabot.”
    Adrian was thoroughly charmed. He’d believed he was beyond being charmed by a woman, but her now-sparkling eyes conveyed a sudden infectious and guileless delight that stunned him. “This is your first visit, isn’t it? I haven’t seen you before.”
    “And do you see everything?” she asked as her eyes caught his and became serious once more. It was almost as if she regretted her brief laughter.
    “I try,” he said, his hand firming on her elbow as he still felt resistance. “Everything that’s important, anyway.”
    He knew he was giving her no choice. She was obviously alone; there was no gentleman from the ship rushing to her aid, and unless she planned to block the gangplank all day, she would have to accompany him.
    Her eyes told him that she recognized what he was doing and didn’t like it, and he grew even more intrigued. There was control in her face now, although she couldn’t hide the blush in her cheeks. She was tense, and he didn’t understand why. His