Free Reckless by Anne Stuart

lower over her face. “As for this Portal of Venus you keep going on about, it was a mistake. My…my dear friend who brought me here was going to point it out but she got…distracted. How was I to know what the Portal of Venus was?”
    â€œI regret Lady Whitmore didn’t have a chance to show you,” he drawled, shocking her. He knew she’d come with Lina. Well, there was nothing remarkable about that—they’d been standing together during that ridiculous ceremony with its terrible Latin. “But that’s hardly an excuse. All you had to do was look.The Portal of Venus,” he said patiently, “is the round entrance to the first garden, surrounded by boxwood and maidenhair ferns. It resembles…”
    â€œOh, how revolting! ” Charlotte cried, with no need for him to continue.
    â€œOn the contrary, I tend to find it quite…hmm…stimulating. But I believe I did mention that I reserve my attentions for women, did I not?”
    There was no other way out, she thought desperately. Where the hell was Lina when she needed her? Off enjoying the attentions of who knew how many, her idiot of a cousin forgotten.
    â€œYes, you did,” she said calmly, dropping all effort to disguise her voice. He wouldn’t recognize it anyway, not from one short conversation in a noisy ballroom. “But Viscount Rohan is known for his excellent taste. His mistresses are some of the most beautiful women in the world.”
    â€œNow, how would you know of my mistresses?” he murmured, amused.
    She ignored the question. “You would hardly lower your standards to…to…bed an unwilling antidote, a plain old maid.”
    He surveyed her figure in silence for a moment, and she had the odd notion that he could not only see beneath the enveloping hood, but also see through to her flaws and imperfections. “The word is fuck, ” he said deliberately. “And you wouldn’t be unwilling.” There was a calm certainty in his voice, as if he’dbeen privy to her awful dreams. “You greatly underestimate your charms.” His hand tightened, and he pulled her toward him, slowly, inexorably. She tried to put her hands between them, but it was already too late to fight him, and he simply clamped her against him, against his strong, hard body. She could feel him, as she had in her dreams, and she wanted to cry. So close, so tantalizingly close, and all she had to do was pull back her cowl and he’d release her, shocked, horrified, perhaps disgusted at the thought of the mistake he’d almost made.
    But she couldn’t get her hands free—they were trapped between their bodies. He’d managed to restrain her with just one arm, and his hand reached up toward her hidden face.
    â€œYou don’t want to do this,” she said desperately.
    â€œOf course I do. I’ve wanted to for a long time, Miss Spenser.” And he pushed the hood from her head, caught her stubborn chin in one strong hand and kissed her.
    Â 
    Lina heard the sound first. A grating noise, like some strange bird, she thought. A jackdaw or perhaps a crow. She opened her eyes and realized she’d fallen asleep beside Monty’s chaise. She was sitting on the floor, fully dressed, her head cradled in her arms, and Monty slept on, oblivious to the most irritating bird that was…
    â€œAhem.”
    No, that wasn’t a bird. That was someone clearing his throat, and she lifted her head and turned, not bothering to rise, assuming it was simply Dodson with some tea and toast.
    It wasn’t. It was a man she’d never seen before, soberly dressed in black with white linen. No lace, no jewels, no ornament of any kind, and he was looking down on her with a shadowed expression that doubtless signaled deep disapproval. She felt herself flush. She, who prided herself on being shameless.
    She started to rise, and he held out one hand to assist her. She’d