Free Outrageously Yours by Allison Chase Page B

wide-eyed, hand-raising, eager naïveté, was not one of them.
    Was she even aware, then, what this charade of hers could mean for her future? Discovery would result in instant ruination. She would never again be respectable in society, never make any decent man a proper wife. It would not matter whether Simon took her into his bed or not—
    A heated tremor traveled his length and pooled in his loins. Why wouldn’t he wish to have this bold woman, with her perceptive mind and her sleek legs, in his bed? The tremor became a throb, the impulse to gather her into his arms a mounting temptation.
    One he tamped down with a reminder of the price they would both pay. For her, a stained reputation. For him, a blot on his credibility. Whores were permissible, as were widows and married women who had reached “understandings” with their often elderly and impotent husbands. Such affairs were to be winked at, dismissed as a man’s predilection.
    Besmirching an innocent virgin was not excusable. He was a man of science, a scholar to whom integrity meant everything. Without it, any benefits his work might one day yield to society would be lost, scorned and ignored, because he would be a man without honor, not to be trusted.
    Then why the devil had she donned a man’s breeches and feigned her way into his home? And why had he yet to expose her reckless charade?
    “Tell me.” He fought the urge to reach out and trace the sensual curve of her mouth with his fingertips. “How is it that you alone understood my challenge?”
    The breeze sifted through her short curls, tossing a few strands into her face. She brushed them back and said, “Your procedure exhibited nothing new. Humphry Davy created potassium by separating the elements of potash more than twenty years ago. Oh, your voltaic pile was far more powerful than the one he used, but otherwise the science involved was rather elementary.”
    Simon couldn’t help grinning at her arrogant show of confidence. To hide it, he started walking, beckoning for her to accompany him. “Go on.”
    “Knowing you had conducted two previous challenges, I could not believe that everyone before me had failed to grasp the principles of the process. I suspected they had all gone hobbling down the wrong avenue.” She tipped her chin and smiled. “You designed that challenge to trick the candidates, didn’t you?”
    Her impudence knocked him momentarily breathless. Only Aurelia had ever dared confront him in such a manner, always with a saucy grin and a glitter in her eye that was both contentious and conspiratorial, as though she had every assurance in the world that he would come round to seeing things her way.
    He always had.
    “Lord Harrow?”
    He blinked and brought the woman beside him back into focus. Her confidence had slipped, and a particle of doubt flitted across her features. She must believe she had offended him. She could not know what agonizing memories her innocent query had stirred.
    “I cannot deny it, Ned,” he said evenly. “You see, anyone can be taught the basic principles of electromagnetism. I desired someone for whom science was a passion and an art.”
    His own choice of words brought him up short. Desire ... passion ... the terms had suddenly taken on meanings that had nothing whatsoever to do with science. He quickly explained, “I need someone who can grasp the nature of a breakthrough if and when it occurs, and who will not be put off by risk or controversy.”
    She stumbled over a rock and might have gone down if he hadn’t caught her elbow and steadied her. “I see those boots are still posing a problem.”
    His jest went ignored. “Controversy, sir?”
    He released his hold, but the imprint of her arm seemed branded into his palm. He mashed his other fist against it. “You look alarmed, Ned. Does going against society’s grain frighten you? For that is what science often does. It quashes preconceived notions and replaces them with radical new