Free A Valentine For Christmas - A Regency Novella by Kate Harper Page A

habitually avoided at all costs. She thought him ‘interesting’. She believed he needed her assistance. Such girls were invariably trouble. Fortunately, he did not encounter them all that frequently but this time he had really landed in the middle of it, unable to escape, unable to avoid her without appearing as the most churlish guest imaginable. However eccentric the Weatherings might be, they had been nothing but kind to him. And to Madeleine, of course. At the thought of his capricious mistress, his scowl deepened. What the devil did she think she was up to, flirting with those two boys? If the circumstances were different, he would have been delighted to have her otherwise occupied but lads such as the two oldest Weatherings were babes in the wood when faced with the likes of Madeleine du Pont. It was fortunate they did not have a deal of money behind them or who only knew what the venal creature would get up to. And the worst thing was, he could tell neither of them what the true situation was. They thought the girl his cousin, which naturally meant that she was quality. If only that were true; having seen the girl enraged and reverting to language a French fishwife would blush at, he knew she was anything but.
    He gave the unrelenting storm beyond the window a malevolent glance and wondered how he was supposed to survive the next few days or, God forbid, the many days it might take for the roads to become passable again. One thing was certain; he would not be taking Madeleine into Norfolk with him. No matter what, she would be delivered back to London and he would continue on alone for if there was one thing he craved, it was peace and quiet for a few weeks.
    Well, not the one thing, he had to admit, recollecting Miss Weathering’s delicious mouth and how very delicious it had felt beneath his own. Kissing her had made his fingers twitch, longing to wander and explore the wonders he knew would be lurking beneath the modest blue gown that she wore. But it could not be. It must not be, despite the fact that, unless he was much mistaken, she had kissed him back.
    At times like this he was forced to remind himself that he was a gentleman. Although, there had never been a time quite like this, it must be admitted. But abstinence, it was said, formed the character, shaping it into a better man and God alone knew, he could do with some reconstruction in that area. If there was one thing he really did not need for Christmas, it was for a pretty, exasperating girl to devote herself to his salvation.
    He had long since given up on that. Better to go to hell in a manner of his own choosing.
     
     
     

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
     
    It might be thought that Charlie would be cast down by her failure to elicit any worthwhile information from his lordship. It might even be considered inevitable that she would have been thoroughly shocked by his misuse of her mouth at their last encounter. It was well known that gentlemen did not behave in such a manner. Even in the wilds of Cambridgeshire, it had been drummed into all the Weathering children – male and female alike – that manhandling of any kind was to be frowned on.
    Charlie supposed it must be a sad failing on her part that she was not shocked. Rather, she had found Lord Valentine’s kiss to be extraordinary stimulating and, if the opportunity presented itself, she quietly hoped that he would do so again. Such a state of mind might prove that her mother’s attitude towards the reading of gothic novels had some substance but Charlie suspected she would have found that kiss delightful without the intervention of Mrs. Radcliff. His lordship was very attractive, pleasingly inscrutable and an excellent kisser. At least, she assumed he was. It was difficult to imagine how such an exchange could improve upon.
    ‘It was only a kiss,’ she had reasoned a little later, when her heart had stopped hammering and her body had returned to something that bordered on normal. ‘It