Tempted by a Lady's Smile by Christi Caldwell

Author:Christi Caldwell [Caldwell, Christi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical, Victorian, Regency, Historical Romance, to-read, regency romance
Amazon: B01DO7Q99G
Goodreads: 29749196
Publisher: Christi Caldwell Ink
Published: 2016-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Many words had been uttered about Gemma in the course of her life. Most of them beginning with the prefix “un”: Unattractive. Untalented. Unimpressive.

Never, in all the words whispered about by the ton, or captured on the pages of the scandal sheets, had a single person penned remarkable beside her name. Not even the mother who’d given her life or the brother who loved her had seen her in that special light. Rather, she’d been recognized more as something of an oddity who would find love by sheer devotion.

Emotion swelled in Gemma’s throat and she stared as the leaves danced overhead and revealed soft, white clouds as they rolled by. She turned her head. “No one has ever called me remarkable,” she said softly to him.

A wry grin formed on his lips, but he didn’t bother to take his eyes from the same clouds she’d previously studied. “Well, that is a near impossible feat. It would require a lot of unremarkable people to see something wholly absent inside themselves inside another.” He spoke with a matter-of-factness that sent heat spiraling to her heart. Then he shoved himself onto his elbows and took another swill from his flask. Putting the top on, he stuffed it into the front of his jacket, and lay down on his back, once more.

Disappointment gripped her. Of course gentlemen drank spirits and, yet, his casual sipping from his flask, in that roguish manner, rankled. Rankled her, when it really wasn’t her affair whether Lord Westfield’s friend sipped spirits on Sunday with the devil himself. But she’d been so caught up in the beauty of Richard’s words and now he’d dull that treasured moment…with liquor.

“So you never did tell me, Miss Reed,” he said with that slightly mocking edge he’d used at their first meeting, bringing a frown to her lips. And when had she become Miss Reed, again? “What are the reasons you find yourself hopelessly in love with Lord Westfield?”

“Do you not believe him worthy of those sentiments?” she shot back.

“Quite the contrary. Though a rogue, Westfield is, as you said, loyal and kind. A better man than most of all Society.”

She frowned. “Well, for one, he’s not surly.”

With their shoulders flush, her body trembled at the slight tensing of his bicep muscles. “Are you calling me surly, Miss Reed?”

“Are you calling me Miss Reed because you’re being surly?”

He snorted. “Touché, Gemma. I wasn’t always surly, you know.” No, she didn’t know. For she didn’t truly know anything about Richard Jonas. Yet, at the same time, he knew more of her than any other. Even Lord Westfield… Unsettled by that truth, she fixed on the sound of his husky baritone. “In fact, I’ve been touted as one of those charming sorts.”

She giggled. “Have you?”

In one smooth movement, Richard flipped on his side. “Not charming enough if that is any indication.”

Her heart tripped a beat. Too charming if her pounding pulse was any indication.

She forced a smile. “And he smiles a good deal.” At his silence, she asked, “Shall I continue?”

He inclined his head.

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