Free Destitute On His Doorstep by Helen Dickson Page A

his audacity to accuse her of enticement. ‘You lecher. I am guilty of no such thing and you know it.’ Her brow arched at a sceptical angle. ‘Am I to understand that you are soliciting me for my favours?’
    â€˜I would not insult you by doing so,’ he answered lightly, trying to make his words sound convincing while offering no apology for allowing his gaze to ogle her so blatantly. ‘The sights are much too enticing for any man to ignore. If you must know, I enjoy looking at you as much as I like looking at any beautiful woman.’
    Aware of the fact that he really was grinning like some hopeful lecher as his gaze lingered overlong on her breasts, belying his words, Jane crossed her arms over her chest in a protective manner. The audacity of the man! Her dark eyes narrowed as she fixed a malevolentglare upon him. ‘You are far too bold and too sure of yourself. Have you no shame?’
    â€˜None whatsoever. Whatever the truth of it, I make no pretence about my vulnerability as a man or that I find you the most enticing, fascinating woman and as perfect as I’ve seen in—well, in a long time.’
    Sharply elevating a brow, Jane considered the handsomely chiselled visage for a brief moment before replying. ‘And you jest with me, Colonel. There are enticing and fascinating women in every bawdy house,’ she stated caustically. ‘I suggest you go and look for one there.’
    â€˜Come now, Jane,’ he said with a mock, pained expression, making use of her given name too loosely for Jane’s liking. ‘Have you no sympathy or pity for what I’ve just suffered—what your mishap has put me through?’
    â€˜Absolutely not,’ she declared flatly. ‘I’ve done nothing to kindle your ardour. But since it seems to bother you overmuch, Colonel, I’ll remove myself from your sight and go back to my room and leave you to ask one of the servants to clean up the mess.’
    And so, finding his brazenness too much to bear, her cheeks aflame and her chin raised in an attitude of haughty displeasure, after scooping an unrepentant Scamp up into her arms she turned about and stalked away with as much haste as cat whose tail was on fire.
    The colonel’s lips stretched leisurely into a rakish grin as his gaze ranged the length of her retreating back, lingering admiringly on her delectably round derrière well defined beneath the fabric of her nightgown, and not until she had disappeared from sight did he turn and with a soft chuckle walk away.

Chapter Three
    B ehind the closed door of her room Jane paced the floor, tossing her head with each change of direction so that her long dark hair swung about her face and shimmered with reflected light. Had the situation been less dire, she would have fled the house. Indeed, after what had just happened she had to fight the urge to do so now. It nettled her sorely that Colonel Russell had seen more of her than she cared to contemplate, but with her future at stake there was a limit to her patience, determination or guile.
    But on reflection, when she thought of Scamp bounding about all over the place and setting off a train of events that had been unavoidable to escape, causing Colonel Russell considerable discomfort when she had bumped into him had finally battered down her wall of cold indifference. Playing out the scene in her mind and how comical it would have looked to an onlooker as they floundered around, seeing the funny side she laughed out loud. She suddenly felt very foolish andbad tempered. True, Colonel Russell had behaved outrageously just now, but considering the things she had said to him and her hostile attitude since arriving at Bilborough, she hadn’t behaved any better.
    Perhaps, she thought, a mischievous and cunning and what she hoped would be a profitable plan beginning to take root in her mind, if she tempered her attitude towards him and used her female powers of persuasion