Sara Bennett Read Online Free Page B

more easily in search of her prey. With a quick glance left to right, to assure herself that no one was taking any particular notice of her, Vivianna began her journey across the room, keeping close to the wall and using draperies and green leafy plants for cover. If anyone did notice her, she thought with beating heart, they would believe her to be a gentleman’s shy spinster sister, or a maiden aunt, come down from the country to partake of the pleasures of the capital, and unused to company.
    Hovering near an aspidistra, Vivianna peered about the room, seeking Montegomery’s dark and handsome visage. What if he wasn’t here in this room? This was a large house and there must be other rooms. What if she had to search them all? Again Vivianna stilled her fears. If she had to examine every inch of the place, then she would!
    But she was in luck. In the next moment she spotted him, standing in a doorway off the main room. There was a woman before him, her gown constructed of some shimmering silken stuff Vivianna had never seen before, the draped bodice disclosing a great deal of bosom and the skirt cut in such a way that her lower limbs were almost completely visible. Shocked, Vivianna raised her eyes abruptly.
    The pair of them were laughing, and the woman ran a finger lightly down his chest in a gesture that was teasing and yet surprisingly intimate. They drewcloser, spoke briefly, and then Montegomery stepped back into the room out of sight. The woman smiled over her shoulder in that same teasing, intimate way, as she moved toward the table where champagne sat cooling in ice.
    Was she fetching him a glass of champagne? As Vivianna hesitated, the woman was approached by another, older gentleman with blossoming side-whiskers, who began to engage her in conversation. She glanced back toward the doorway apologetically, and then turned a brilliant smile and her full attention upon the new arrival. Vivianna knew a chance when she saw it: a chance to beard the lion in his den.
    Swiftly, Vivianna moved in a direct line toward the doorway through which Montegomery had disappeared. No time now to play at being invisible. No time to play it safe. No time…She brushed by an attractive older woman, her dark hair streaked with gray, wearing a sumptuously beaded black gown and a great number of diamonds. The woman’s startled glance was echoed by others. Vivianna’s shoulders ached with tension, and any moment she expected someone to stop her, to ask her what she thought she was doing.
    It did not happen.
    She reached the open door and stepped inside, closing it quickly behind her. Now I have you! Her trembling fingers found the key and turned, locking them both in.

Chapter 2
    F irst things first: Make quite sure he cannot escape.
    Vivianna removed the key from the lock and slipped it into the pocket sewn into her skirt. Only then, with a deep, sustaining breath, did she turn to face the room. It was just as elegant as the one she had left, but far more intimate. A fire crackled in a fireplace, ornaments gleamed on small, polished tables, and a very large chaise lounge was draped in scarlet silk and dotted with crimson cushions. Upon the wall was a framed painting—a Botticelli Venus—all golden hair and pink flesh.
    His back to her, Lord Montegomery was standing by the uncovered windows. A tall, dark, broad-shouldered figure against the night. There was something distant about him, as if he were a man who was all alone. For a moment she hesitated, uncertain, feeling like the intruder she was.
    As if sensing her gaze upon him, he turned, a half smile of welcome curving his mouth. His smile turnedquizzical. He blinked deep-set eyes that were of a blue so intense and so dark they almost appeared to be black.
    “I thought this was the Venus Room,” he said in a deep, deceptively sleepy voice. “You look more like Diana the Huntress.” His gaze slid over her in a leisurely fashion. “Although with far too many clothes