Rogues Gallery Read Online Free Page B

in comparison to waking with a hand clamped over her mouth, certain it was meant to still her screams while Lord Westbrook commenced the wedding night weeks before the ceremony.
    How could she feel anything but relief when she realized it was not her betrothed accosting her, but the handsome rogue who had waylaid her carriage earlier that evening?
    She stifled a giggle, just as the door was thrown open. Lord Westbrook stood there, clutching a branch of candles in one hand. His light brown hair was disheveled, and it appeared as if he had dragged on his robe with great haste. Not that she knew for certain, never having seen a man dressed so casually before.
    Still, he marched forward, as though it were his custom to visit her each night. What had prompted him to violate propriety in this way? She had been assured she would have her own separate wing of Lord Westbrook's house. Her father would not have agreed to the arrangement if he had believed otherwise.
    He meant to ensure his daughter was unable to escape the wedding. He did not intend for her to be assailed by her betrothed prior to the wedding vows being uttered.
    "Is something amiss, my lord?"
    His lordship regarded her with such undisguised longing Marisa felt panic stir once more. She had to dispatch her betrothed before he could act on whatever impulse had sent him scurrying to her bedchamber.
    And before he learned another man had found his way into her bed.
    "My lord, is there some reason—"
    "I was in the hallway and thought I heard a noise," he answered with an air of distraction. "I became quite concerned for you."
    At last he tore his gaze away and commenced a thorough search of the room. Marisa barely stifled a shudder. Her betrothed represented a bigger threat to her wellbeing than the interloper hidden beneath the counterpane. If Edmund learned her room had been breached by an intruder, he would place restrictions on her movements, making escape from the upcoming nuptials even more difficult.
    "It sounded as if someone were prowling about," he added, whisking the damask draperies aside.
    "A prowler?" Marisa gasped. "Here?"
    She shifted in an effort to further conceal the intruder's form. Her toe came into contact with what could only be his ear. She squealed when a pair of lips seared the inside of her ankle.
    Edmund whirled about, his eyes narrowed. "What is the matter?"
    Marisa placed a hand to her wildly beating heart. "You f-f-frightened me with your talk of prowlers. It sent a shiver right through me."
    "And well it should," he said, striding across the room until he stood next to her bed. "We could be assaulted in our own beds, what with bloodthirsty highwaymen roaming the roadways."
    Marisa inched away until the headboard halted her.
    "Surely highwaymen do not enter people's households," she countered, even though she had a highwayman hiding in her bed at that very moment. "I cannot believe they would dare to make such an intimate intrusion—"
    A lingering kiss a fraction higher on her leg elicited another shriek. Marisa did not need to disguise it as fear. It was a timely reminder not to encourage her betrothed to linger.
    She shivered again, drawing the covers closer to her chin. She also fought off the urge to kick the audacious man concealed in her bed.
    Apparently her show of fear convinced Edmund, for his expression softened. Not for the first time Marisa choked back a tide of revulsion. She had no rational reason for such an emotion, yet it had not abated since their first meeting months ago. Lord Westbrook was a rich, well-respected peer of the realm. She only knew she could never be this man's wife.
    "I can see I have caused you undue alarm."
    He patted her hand in what was surely intended as a comforting fashion. Yet it was anything but comforting, primarily because it was his touch, but also because it was perilously close to the would-be rescuer in her bed. She leaned back to prevent any further contact.
    "Perhaps it would be wise to