The Abduction of Julia by Karen Hawkins

Author:Karen Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: Romance, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380810710
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2000-04-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

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Two weeks after the rout, the Dowager Duchess of Roth appeared at Almack’s with a page even homelier than Muck. She further astounded her friends and family by graciously announcing that the child was a former pickpocket, plucked from the gutter and trained by her own tender care. The gossips clamored. No one seemed to notice that the dowager was also a distant, but fond, relative of Lady Birlington’s.

Within a fortnight, bewildered footmen from all across London were sent into the streets and alleyways to rescue homely children for the employment of their mistresses.

Julia’s success was assured. Therese, startled by this unexpected coup, immediately sent for Nick.

It took him three days to reply, but when he did, she had the coveted pleasure of riding out with him in his high-perch phaeton, an honor he afforded very few. After assisting Therese into the carriage, he climbed up beside her and set the horses to a smart trot down the tree-lined street.

Therese waited until they had left the fashionable confines of Park Lane before turning to him. “You must do something about Julia.”

“What do you suggest? Kidnapping? Torture?”

The amusement in his voice stung. “You cannot mean to sit idly by and allow Alec to inherit the money.”

Nick directed the horses around a halted coach-and-four before returning his attention to her. His blue glance fell just short of boredom. “Never fear, Therese. I have everything well in hand.”

A sudden breeze sent the skirts of her blue silk gown into a graceful flutter, catching the eye of a young cit exiting a shop, his arms filled with parcels. On seeing Therese, he stopped, his mouth dropping open. She rewarded him with a blinding smile that caused him to drop his burdens into the street.

She peered at Nick, hoping he had noticed.

He didn’t so much as spare her a glance, tooling the phaeton across the bustling square, the great wheels coming within scant inches of a tanner’s lumbering cart.

Therese regarded his strong profile with a wistful sigh. Dressed in a multicaped driving coat of moss green thai complemented the wonderful fit of his pale yellow trousers, Nick could not have appeared more handsome. He represented wealth, position, and more. Once they married, she would be the wealthy Countess Bridgeton and Nick would be hers.

Though it frightened her to admit it, she was almost certain the yearning she felt for him was love. It had tc be, for she could not stop thinking of him. She wanted the taste of him in her mouth, the feel of him beneath her hands, the smell of him on her sheets. Therese allowed her gaze to wander across his broad shoulders down to the hard muscles of his thighs beneath his fitted trousers.

As if reading her thoughts, Nick flicked her a contemptuous glance. “It is rude to stare, Therese. Even for you.”

Her cheeks heated to match the rest of her body. She forced herself to return his cool stare with one of herown. “I was not staring.

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