Free Splendid by Julia Quinn

don’t even know her.”
    â€œOh, but I do.”
    Dunford tried another tactic. “If you get caught, you’ll ruin her reputation on her first night out. You’ll have to marry the chit. There’d be no way around it. It would be the honorable thing.”
    â€œNo one will see me,” Alex stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “If anyone asks for me, tell them I’ve gone to the washroom. To freshen up.” With that, he emerged from his hiding place and followed Emma out of the ballroom, his footsteps carefully silent.
    The hallway had been left unlit to discourage the tipsy and amorous from extending the party to all corners of the house, but Emma easily found her room. She lit a solitary candle, preferring the semidarkness for her headache. With an unapologetically loud yawn, she kicked off her shoes and settled down amidst the soft white quilts of her bed. Sighing deeply, she rubbed her temples and decided that she had, indeed, enjoyed herself at her first London party. It was true that she’d met a fair number of stuffy and pompous aristocrats, but she’d also been introduced to many intelligent and interesting men and women. If only she hadn’t had this blasted lump on her skull. She knew that she would be having a better time if she were feeling more the thing. She was just so incredibly tired.Emma let her eyelids flutter shut, groaning softly as she wondered how on earth she was ever going to rouse herself to return to the party.
    Alex moved swiftly and silently into the room, mentally blessing the well-oiled hinges of Emma’s door. He paused for a moment, regarding Emma with a tender gaze. In repose, she was soft and sweet, without a hint of her sharp tongue and rapier wit. A delicate smile touched her face as she nestled deeper into her quilts, and Alex thought that there was nothing in this world he wanted to do more than to take her into his arms and lull her to sleep. He stopped and frowned, puzzling at his chaste thoughts. Frankly, he could not remember the last time he’d had any tender feelings for a woman.
    Suddenly, Emma stretched out her body with a feline purr. Alex felt lust take over his mind and body as her breasts strained against the top of her bodice.
    Emma, eyes still closed, sighed in contentment.
    Alex stepped back to the door.
    Emma curled back into a ball, thinking that solitude was indeed a wonderful state.
    Alex shut the door with a resounding click.
    Emma’s eyes flew open with horror, and she gasped at the sight of the black-haired, green-eyed man whose powerful frame seemed to fill her entire room.
    â€œHello, Meg.”

Chapter 5
    F or one blessed second, Emma thought she was hallucinating. There was simply no way this green-eyed devil could have come to be standing in her bedroom. And she had bumped her head rather soundly that afternoon. She’d heard that such accidents did strange things to one’s mind. Then the Duke of Ashbourne bestowed upon her a devilish smile and seated himself in her easy chair.
    That was when Emma knew he must be real. No hallucination of hers would behave so abominably. Her breath caught in her throat and she suddenly felt very sick to her stomach. Dear Lord, her relatives had spent the last month teaching her the ins and outs of London society, but no one had told her what to do if she discovered a gentleman—no, a rogue—in her bedroom. Emma knew she should say something, scream even, but not a sound passed through her lips.
    And then Emma suddenly realized that she was still stretched across her bed in a very compromising position. Glancing up, she quickly realized that the duke had also noticed. His hot gaze seemed to burn into her skin, and Emma felt herself pinken with embarrassment. She hastily pulled herself upright, clutching a pillow to her chest, eager to shield herself from Alex’s eyes.
    â€œPity,” he remarked sardonically.
    Emma’s eyes flew to his. She still