Free The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase

ludicrous appearance of intense concentration: eyes narrowed, the tip of her pink tongue caught between her teeth.
    "It'll be more effective if you wear something lower cut," he added. "Otherwise, a fellow might wonder whether you're hiding a deformity."
    He wondered whether she had any inkling of the ferocious temptation the long parade of buttons represented, or of how the masculine cut of her garments only made a man more conscious of the womanly form they so rigidly encased. He wondered what evil witch had brewed her scent, a devilish mixture of smoke and lilies and something else he couldn't put a name to.
    His head dipped lower.
    She looked up at him with the smallest of smiles. "I'll tell you what," she said.
    "Why don't you take the pencil and notebook and jot down all your fantasies, in your own dear little hand. Then I shall have a keepsake of this delightful occasion. Unless, that is, you'd rather breathe down my neck."
    Very slowly, so as not to appear disconcerted, he drew back. "You also need lessons in anatomy," he said. "I was breathing in your ear . If you want me to breathe down your neck, you shouldn't wear such high collars."
    "Where I want you to do your breathing," she said, "is in Madagascar."
    "If I'm bothering you," he said, "why don't you hit me?"

    Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
    She closed the small notebook. "Now I understand," she said. "You made the fuss in St. James's Street because I was hitting someone else, and you don't want me to hit anyone but you."
    His heart sped from double to triple time. Ignoring it, he gave her a pitying look.
    "You poor dear. All this scribbling has given you a brain fever."
    To his vast relief, the carriage halted.
    Still wearing the pitying expression, Vere opened the door and very gently helped her out. "Do get some sleep, Miss Grenville," he said solicitously. "Rest your troubled brain. And if you don't recover your reason by morning, be sure to send for a doctor."
    Before she could frame a retort, he gave her a light shove toward her door.
    Then, "Crockford's," he told the driver, and quickly reentered the hackney. As he pulled its door shut, Vere saw her glance back. She flashed him a cocksure smile before turning and sauntering, hips swaying, to the drab house's entrance.

    Lydia had a natural talent for mimicry that allowed her to slip easily into another's personality and mannerisms. According to Ste and Effie, Lydia's father had possessed similar abilities. He'd failed as a thespian, apparently, because theatrical success required hard work as well as aping skills, and all he worked hard at was drinking, gaming, and whoring.
    She'd put the gift to better use. It helped her capture on paper with vivid accuracy the personalities of those she wrote about.
    It had also helped her develop fairly quickly a degree of camaraderie with her male colleagues. Her rendition of Lord Linglay's speech in the House of Lords months earlier had won her an invitation to her fellow writers' Wednesday night Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
    drinking bouts at the Blue Owl tavern. Nowadays, the weekly gatherings were considered incomplete if Grenville of the Argus wasn't there to do one of her hilarious impersonations.
    This night, Lydia entertained Tamsin—whose new name, Thomasina Price, was eschewed in private—with a lively re-enactment of the encounter with Ainswood.
    They were in Lydia's bedroom. Tamsin sat upon the foot of the bed watching Lydia perform before the fireplace.
    Though Lydia's usual audience tended toward the latter stages of intoxication, and Tamsin was sober, she laughed as hard as the men usually did.
    At least the girl was amused, Lydia thought as she took her bows. Lydia ought to be as well, but her customary detachment eluded her. It was as though her soul were a house in which nasty things had suddenly taken to crawling out of the woodwork.
    Restless and uneasy, she moved to her dressing table, sat, and started unpinning her hair.
    Tamsin watched