Slightly Tempted Read Online Free

decided-and his lazy voice. But no, there was something else about his voice that explained more clearly the impression of slight danger she was getting. He spoke with a French accent.
    Morgan fanned her face slowly and watched him as he turned and walked away.
    "The fellow is fortunate that there are ladies present," Lord Gordon was saying to his circle of cronies, his voice shaking with anger. "It would have given me great satisfaction to slap a glove in his face."
    Morgan ignored him.
    "My dear Lady Morgan," Lady Caddick said when the earl was out of earshot, "the mysterious Earl of Rosthorn must be very taken with you to have made the effort to be introduced to you."
    "Mysterious,Mama?" Rosamond asked.
    "Oh, yes, he is quite the mystery," Lady Caddick said. "He succeeded to his father's title and fortune a year or so ago, but no one had seen him for years before that or has seen him during the year since-except now here in Brussels. It is rumored that he has been hiding out on the Continent gathering intelligence for the British government."
    "He is aspy ?" Rosamond gazed after him in wide-eyed rapture.
    "There may very well be some truth in the claim," her mother said. "It would certainly explain his appearance here in Brussels when intelligence concerning the French must be greatly in demand."
    Morgan's interest was further piqued. A dangerous man indeed! But the sets were forming for the next dance and the orchestra was poised to play again. Lieutenant Hunt-Mathers stepped up to her, made her a stiff military bow, and extended one arm.
    CHAPTER II
     
    GERVASE SPENT THE NEXT HALF HOUR IN THEcard room, strolling among the tables watching the games and exchanging nods and pleasantries with a few acquaintances. He kept one ear tuned to the music.
    Lady Morgan Bedwyn was every bit as lovely from close to as she had seemed from across the ballroom. Her creamy complexion was flawless, her eyes large and brown and generously fringed with dark lashes. He had been considerably amused by her reaction to his deliberately lavish compliments. She had stared him down like a jaded dowager. She was not, it seemed, the silly girl he had expected her to be
    That blank, haughty stare must be a Bedwyn gift. Bewcastle had been a master of it. Gervase had been at the receiving end of it the very last time he saw the man. The expression on Lady Morgan Bedwyn's face suggested pride, conceit, vanity, arrogance-all those related aspects of character that hardened his resolve.
    Finally the music came to an end, to be replaced by a louder buzz of conversation from the direction of the ballroom. It was time to go and claim his partner. Bewcastle'ssister .
    The noise and gaiety in the ballroom seemed to belie the fact that they were all here-especially the officers-because a war was imminent. But perhaps it was the very possibility of such a catastrophe that set everyone to enjoying the moment to its fullest. The moment was perhaps all many of them would ever have.
    He located his partner in the crowd and made his way toward her. He acknowledged Lady Caddick, her chaperon, with an inclination of his head and bowed to her charge.
    "Lady Morgan," he said, "this is my set, I believe?"
    She nodded her head regally. She and the golden-haired young lady with her were surrounded by young officers, all of whom looked at him with thinly veiled hostility.
    "It is a waltz," the other young lady said. "Do you know the steps, Lord Rosthorn?"
    "I do indeed," he assured her. "I recently spent a few months in Vienna. The waltz is all the rage there."
    "Rosamond!" Lady Caddick said quellingly, perhaps because the girl had spoken to him without first being formally presented to him. But the older lady's tall hair plumes dipped graciously in his direction. "You may waltz with Lady Morgan, Lord Rosthorn. She has been given the nod of approval by the patronesses of Almack's."
    He held out one arm to Lady Morgan, and she placed her hand lightly on his sleeve-a slender,