Free One Night of Passion by Elizabeth Boyle

of these demmed shoes, I promise I’m not so cowhanded.” She blushed again and held out her foot, the flash of silk stockings pushing aside his bothersome notions of honor or innocence. “Well, at least not most of the time,” she added hastily.
    His cousin glanced first down at her foot and then back up at his cousin, before breaking into new gales of laughter.
    “Temple!” Colin took him by the arm and gave him a good shove. “Leave be. This isn’t what you think.”
    Temple held up one hand and said, “Let me give you two some privacy You obviously have much to talk about.” After he had backed a few steps away, he could still be heard chortling away, “Quite nicely.”
    Colin cringed. Knowing Temple he’d never hear the last of that one.
    Without hesitating, he reached out and caught his little Cyprian by the hand and started towing her toward the door.
    “Are we leaving?” she asked. Her eyes sparkled with hope. And invitation.
    Oh no, he realized too late. She thinks I am going to accept her offer.
    “No, I’m taking you home,” he said. “You don’t belong here.”
    His gaze once again swept over the gaudy ladies who made up the assemblage and saw by comparison the sparkle in Georgie’s eyes and the fresh glow of her silken, unpowdered skin.
    Most definitely out of place.
    For if he wasn’t a rake, then she was certainly no Cyprian.
    Not even if her body was ripe and lush . . . Her wayward hair promising to spill seductively over a pillow . . . Her dress enticing a man both to view treasures so well exposed and to desire nothing more than to explore the real bounty hidden beneath its shimmering silk . . .
    Colin’s blood thrummed to life again. It brought with it that cursed whispering need to claim her as his own.
    “In fact, I know you don’t belong here,” he said, this time more to himself than for her benefit. “I mean to see you safely home.”
    “Take me home?” she whispered. “But I thought . . .”
    “Yes, I know exactly what you thought, but I am not the man you seek.”
    Her glance, both furious and full of denial, said otherwise.
    “Let me take you home. What you’ll find here will not bring you happiness.”
    “I never said I was looking for happiness, I was only—” she started to blurt out. Whatever she was going to say, she stopped, her shoulders straightening and her lips drawing a serious line of dismay across her rosy face. “If that is your decision, then I fear, sir, I shall look for companionship elsewhere.” She started to flounce away.
    Colin caught her just before she stumbled anew on her high-heeled shoes. “Have you any idea of the danger you could find here? Of the nature of men?”
    She plucked herself free. “I’m well aware of the nature of men. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
    Her sardonic tone pricked his conscience. She wasn’t here because she wanted to be—she was here because someone had forced this situation upon her.
    He cursed the devil who had driven her to this place. What had the brute been thinking to compel someone like Georgie to such straits?
    She must have seen his concern, because she added, “I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Please, go join your cousin, so I can get on with my business.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her toe tapping as she waited for him to leave.
    They stared at each other in stubborn silence, neither willing to concede their position. Despite his resolve not to fall prey to her appealing offer, Colin still felt the lure of temptation dangling before him.
    She was a handful, a foolish handful. And the most unusual woman he’d ever met.
    Still, what could he do? Cart her out of the room and demand she stop practicing her trade? He was sailing in two days’ time. Then he’d be gone and she’d be . . . be back seeking carte blanche from another man.
    He took one last look into her dark eyes. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret tonight, Georgie.”
    “I wouldn’t