Free A Lord for Olivia by June Calvin

into someone. “Unnh,” she groaned as she staggered back. Momentary alarm had her struggling to flee even though she had not yet caught her balance. Strong arms caught her as she swayed dangerously near the edge of the porch.
    â€œMiss Ormhill.” Lord Edmund pulled her sharply toward him, dragging her against his chest and holding her there to steady her.
    â€œLord Edmund. You startled me!” She pushed againsthim. “What do you mean, sneaking around my office like that?”
    â€œI stepped out to admire the moon. As you did, I don’t doubt. But I have found something even more magnificent to admire.”
    His eyes swept her face with wonder. “Tomorrow will decide my fate, Miss Ormhill. I will become your employee, or be on my way. One way or another, everything will change.”
    â€œYou don’t mention the third possibility,” she said, tilting her head and looking up at this handsome man, fascinated against her will by what she saw in his eyes.
    â€œThat Jason will also manage to fill his wagon and get it to the barn? I think that as unlikely as you do.” He grinned, and she felt her lips turning up in an answering smile.
    She had apologized for her insults, soothing his raw pride. Now she stood smiling up at him in a beguiling way. Edmund felt again the attraction that had swept over him upon first catching sight of her.
    â€œWill you grant me something I’ve wanted all the long years of soldiering, something I could obtain only in England?”
    â€œWhat might that be, Lord Edmund?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows disingenuously, for she had a good idea what it was he wanted.
    â€œTo hold a lovely English miss in my arms and give her just . . . one . . .” He lowered his head slowly, giving her time to evade him if she wished. When she held still, he pressed his mouth to hers, breathing out the word kiss on a long sigh as he buried his lips in the soft pillows of her own.
    For a long, enchanted moment Olivia let him press his lips to hers in a kiss so gentle and yet so fiery she felt longing spread throughout her body. It was he, in fact, who broke off the kiss. Their lips clung for a moment as he pulled away, and she lifted her hand to touch her mouth with wondering fingers.
    â€œMagic,” he proclaimed. “Everything I yearned for as I fought.” He pulled her close once again, and bent for another kiss.
    She pressed against his chest, though, stopping him. “You said one kiss,” she reminded him. The pounding of her heart and the sweet yearning in her body told her she must deny him what she herself wanted far too much.
    â€œBut I didn’t say I’d not ask for another.”
    â€œI, however, think one was entirely too many.” She broke away, determination to resist him giving strength to her shove. “You think to take by seduction what you could not accomplish by wager. But I’ll not wed you, so you may as well desist.”
    He drew back as if slapped. “So our bet is off?”
    She hesitated a moment. “No, but as you said, that particular outcome is extremely unlikely.” She turned her back on him and virtually raced through her study and upstairs to her room, where she forced herself to read a boring treatise on drainage until the urge to return to him for the second kiss was overcome by sleep.
    Edmund remained a while, staring out over the countryside, struggling against bitterness over his situation. Never had he yearned so much for a woman, and never had he been less likely to win her over. It wasn’t just his lack of fortune that put her out of his reach. He had forfeited hope of her respect last night when he had made that foolish wager.
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    When Edmund joined Jason at the breakfast table, he laughed at his host’s reaction to his clothing. “I asked Morton to bring me some workmen’s garments, rather than ruin my own clothes.” He modeled the