One Winter With A Baron (The Heart of A Duke #12) by Christi Caldwell

Author:Christi Caldwell [Caldwell, Christi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Romance, Women's Fiction, Regency, Victorian, London Society, England, Britain, 19th Century, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Hearts Desire, Clean & Wholesome, Baron Webb, Bluestocking & Spinster, Research Help, Wicked Gentlemen, Family Finances, Business Arrangement, Coldhearted Rake, Clever & Cunning
Publisher: Christi Caldwell Ink.
Published: 2016-11-29T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

I daresay Bond Street is overrated, love. Far less thrilling than Gipsy Hill.

Nolan Pratt, Baron Webb, notorious rake, scoundrel and anything else unfavorable, came to a staggering, slightly terrifying, and greatly befuddling realization—he enjoyed a lady’s company.

Nay—whistling a song from Bombastes Furioso, Nolan strolled down the corridors—he enjoyed a certain lady’s company. Even through his tune, he smiled. A Miss Sybil Cunning, to be precise. A lady whose name, upon much consideration, wasn’t at all horrid as she’d suggested four days earlier and very much as enchanting as the lady herself. And also a lady whom he desired, but felt more than mere lust for. Which, in and of itself, was terrifying enough. He—

His sister stood at the end of the hallway, arms folded at her chest. Even with the ten paces between them, he easily spied the suspicion in her eyes. “Egads, are you singing, Nolan?” she asked.

He stopped beside her and ruffled her crimson curls. “Nooo,” he sang in his deep baritone.

Josephine’s lips twitched. “Do stop doing whatever that is, then,” she suggested with a wave in his direction. The teasing glimmer in her like-blue eyes softened her rebuke. “What is the reason for all this unusual cheer?”

Sybil’s wide, brown, bespectacled eyes flashed in his mind. What would Society say if they discovered he, a rake rumored to rival all others in London, was humming a tune he’d listened to with an unchaperoned lady in the rafters of a Covent Garden theatre?

“Nolan?” his sister prodded, a quiet question there.

His neck heated. She was too clever by half. He made a silent note to take greater care with his singing. After all, one never knew when and where a troublesome sister lurked. Nor would it do for anyone to make more of his unusual cheer. Self included. He gave her head another affectionate pat and then started down the stairs. “Hardly unusual cheer.”

Josephine hurried to keep up. “Yes. Actually it is. You usually wear that false smile.”

Nolan paused mid-stride. “This one?” he asked, demonstrating his roguish half-grin.

“The same.” She nodded.

Again, he started forward with Josephine lengthening her smaller strides to keep up. “Where are you off to?” Suspicion darkened her too-old-for-her-sixteen-years tone.

His mind raced. No one had put questions to him for so long, he’d gotten rather bad with the whole prevaricating thing.

“Your clubs, Webb?” Josephine predicted, suspicion giving way to disapproval.

Relief assailed him. “My clubs,” he said instantly. Far safer having the whole of Society, his sister included, take him for the rake he was. To confess that a nine and twenty-year-old miss, uninterested in being seduced by him, consumed his thoughts and would shatter the carefully crafted façade he’d built.

They reached the top of the winding marble stairway that emptied into the foyer. His stomach sank. “Pratt.” Nolan cursed. He’d bloody forgotten his business meeting with his brother.

“It’s in bad form to curse your sibling’s arrival and call him by his surname,” Josephine pointed out, giving him a swift kick to the heels.

He grunted. “You refer to me by my title.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.