Ruined by a Rake by Erin Knightley

Author:Erin Knightley [Knightley, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2013-03-29T13:00:00+00:00

***

Nick saw red—and it wasn’t just the breaking dawn, which turned the sky a violent crimson. Gripping his foil so tightly his hand ached, he stepped toward her. “He said that?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Right after I turned down Lord Kensington’s offer of marriage only days ago.”

Bloody hell—Malcolm had gone too far this time. He’d be damned if he let his stepfather get away with this. There was a certain amount of selfishness in his reasons, but more than anything, Nick didn’t want Eleanor to be forced into the one thing she feared most. Anger burned in his gut, heating his blood.

“The man’s a damn fool.”

“That may be the case, but he also is the head of this family.” She lifted those big brown eyes up to him, the effect of which was amazingly similar to a kick in the gut. “At least with you he was content to throw money at the problem. His only solution with me is to guarantee ruining my life, no matter which way I choose.”

A light breeze tugged at the loosened hair around her face, pulling the raven strands across her too-pale skin. He had the maddest desire to comb the silky strands back with his fingers and kiss her for real. Not the playful kisses he always demanded from her as payment, but a true kiss that would steal her breath and completely override the worry that turned down the edges of her cupid-bow lips.

And he knew exactly how worried she must be. After the way her bastard father had treated her mother, marriage was about as attractive to her as running naked through Mayfair.

“I would never let him ruin your life, Ellie.” The words were too charged, too honest. She glanced up sharply and he forced a smile. “Where else could I find another dreadful fencing partner to make me look so good?”

She rolled her eyes. “Very funny. You could hardly influence his choice of tea, let alone what he wants to do with me.”

Damn it all—he wished she would have a little faith in him. Yes, he was younger than her, and yes, theirs had been an unconventional relationship, but didn’t she realize he would walk through fire for her?

No, of course she didn’t, because he would never let her know such a thing. To her, he would always be the inferior, annoying little boy his mother had foisted on the family. A sparing partner, both verbally and otherwise, who provided small entertainment and great annoyance, by her own description.

No, she would see no rescue from him. So he had to do the next best thing: show her that she could save herself. Which from the look of it would be quite the undertaking. She stood there, already defeated, her brow wrinkled with worry as if she had no hope left in her life. That made him even angrier than Malcolm’s asinine pronouncement.

Where was his little fighter? Where was the girl who had taken to combat like a

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