Samantha Kane by Tempting a Devil

Author:Tempting a Devil [Devil, Tempting a]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

They arrived at Throckton’s within a quarter hour, unusual for London traffic at this time of the year. Roger saw their good fortune as a portent of the rest of the evening.

“Are you acquainted with the earl?” Harry asked as he helped her from her carriage. He could already feel the eyes of the other arrivals boring into his back with curiosity. No doubt Lady Maxwell had been busy spreading her poison about him and Harry. He’d suspect his old lover of harassing Harry except the troubles had begun before Roger had become reacquainted with her.

“Yes,” Roger answered, trying to stay distracted from the curious onlookers. He really didn’t know why they bothered him tonight. Certainly he’d been the source of gossip before, many times over. And in the past many a society matron had glared at him as if he were indeed Beelzebub. But tonight it was different. Tonight they were staring at Harry, too, as if she were beneath them, and that was Roger’s fault. He’d brought that on her with their association, and yet he couldn’t regret it, though he should, for her sake. “He’s a cousin to my friend, Alasdair Sharp.”

“Ah, the Sharp who just married his Juliet?” Harry asked, amusement in her voice.

“The very same,” Roger said, his smile genuine. Harry seemed able to make him laugh even when he was out of sorts.

By now they’d reached the door and were in line to greet Throckton and his sister, Lady Anne Moore, who was acting as his hostess. Lady Anne was tall for a woman, long and lithe. When she was younger she’d been reed thin. Alasdair had blackened a boy’s eye back when they were in school for saying she looked like boy. The comparison was no longer true. Now she was quite elegant and graceful, her curves subtle and alluring. She was very cool and reserved, which is what had always kept Roger at arm’s length. Standing next to her brother, their identical ancestry was evident. Both were tall with blue eyes and light brown hair, although Throckton’s was turning gray at the temples, which surprised Roger.

They were about the same age, he and Throckton, the earl only a few years older. But he was a terribly serious fellow, always looking as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Tonight he actually looked pleasant, a far cry from the last time Roger had seen him as they took Julianna Sharp home from her escapade trying to break into a receiver’s shop to steal Sharp’s pearl back. Wiley had been sitting across from the earl, his gunshot wound bleeding, which had not pleased the earl at all. Throckton never liked adventures, which really was the only reason he wasn’t a Devil. He was a chap who liked his rules and his neat, tidy life.

“Templeton,” the earl said, his expression stopping just short of rude.

“Throckton,” Roger said jovially. The earl’s eye twitched. “How are you?” Roger stuck his hand out. The earl reluctantly took his proffered hand and shook it quickly.

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