Miracles by Judith McNaught

Author:Judith McNaught
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Star

7

UNTIL THAT MOMENT, NICKI WOULD have wagered a fortune that nothing a woman said could truly surprise him anymore, let alone reduce him to his current state of speechlessness. “I beg your pardon?” he finally managed.

Julianna saw him struggle to hide his shock, and she suppressed another siege of unacceptable giggles. She wasn’t certain whether her urge to laugh came from nervousness or the wondrous, evil-tasting potion that men imbibed to make them feel so much more optimistic. “I asked if you would be willing to ruin me.

Stalling for time, Nicki studied her from the corner of his eye while he reached into his pocket and took out the last of the two cheroots he’d brought with him. “What . . . specifically . . .” he queried cautiously as he bent his head and lit the cheroot, “do you mean by that?”

“I mean, I wish to be ruined,” Julianna repeated, watching him cup his hands around the flame, trying to get a better look at his features. “I mean, I wish to be made undesirable to any and all men,” she clarified. “Rendered unmarriageable. Left on the shelf.”

Instead of reacting, he propped a booted foot on the stone bench beside her hip and eyed her in thoughtful silence, the thin cigar clamped between even white teeth.

“I—I really don’t think I could possibly make it any clearer than that,” she said anxiously.

“No, I don’t think you could.”

She leaned a little closer to his leg and tipped her head back, peering up at his unreadable face as he gazed off into the distance. “You do understand what I meant?”

“It would be difficult not to.”

He did not sound very enthusiastic, so she blurted the first inducement that came to mind: “I would be willing to pay you!”

This time Nicki was able to suppress his shock though not his smile at her ability to cause the reaction. “That makes twice,” he murmured aloud. “And in one night.” Realizing that she was waiting for a reply, he lowered his gaze to her upturned face, bit back a wayward grin, and said gravely, “That’s a very tempting offer.”

“I would cooperate completely,” she promised, leaning forward and looking at him with earnest, hopeful eyes.

“The incentives are becoming more irresistible by the moment.”

Nicki let her wait for his decision while he gazed into the distance, analyzing the situation and the intriguing young woman seated on the bench beside his leg. He still wasn’t certain how old she was, but he had known she was no gently bred debutante long before she’d asked him for a “favor.” The clues had all been there from the first, beginning with the fact that she was alone in a dark, secluded area with a man to whom she’d never been properly introduced, and she’d made no effort to correct either situation.

Furthermore, the gown she was wearing was enticing in the extreme, seductively low cut to show off her swelling breasts and tightly fitted to emphasize her narrow waist. No respectable Society matron alive would have permitted her innocent daughter to appear in such a gown.

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