Free No Marriage of Convenience by Elizabeth Boyle Page B

graced the face of the earth.
    In that bleak moment his frantic gaze fell on Madame Fontaine and the contrast became only too clear.
    The devil had never looked so much like an angel.
    Before she could withdraw her hand, he grabbed it like a lifeline and sealed their bargain with an enthusiastic shake.

Chapter 4
    R iley could only stare down at the Earl’s firm hand locked in an unholy promise with hers and ask, what had she gotten herself into?
    She glanced up and found his sharp blue gaze cutting through her, piercing and demanding—and, she noted, with just a touch of desperation.
    Eh, gads , she realized. He truly expects me to marry off these appalling minxes! And minxes, she knew, was the only polite way of describing the St. Clair sisters.
    While the Earl might be convinced she could save the day, or maybe he wasn’t, but she didn’t doubt he saw her as his last hope. Oh, she had an ominous feeling that her future could be summed up quite concisely in a few lines from Macbeth,
     
    Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
     
    And this unhappy trio, like their Shakespearean counterparts, appeared quite capable of brewing more than a potful of mischief.
    Oh, the girls were pretty enough, and with a bit of cooperation on their part, she’d see their wretched manners ground away until they sparkled like a trio of diamonds.
    No, it wasn’t that part of the deal that had her panicked.
    It was the Earl of Ashlin and the look she spied behind his innocuous spectacles. For a moment she saw beyond the Oxford professor and spied a man she found disarmingly handsome.
    And as his fingers continued to envelope hers, binding her to him, she realized she’d made a deal that went far beyond lessons in manners.
    That was the devilish part.
    Something told her that this Ashlin, for all his scholarly airs and orderly pretensions, had inherited his fair share of his family’s legendary charm.
    Charm to which even the fabled Aphrodite would have found herself susceptible.
    She struggled to pull her hand free and extract herself from this fool’s bargain, even as the strength underlying his touch crept up her arm and toward her sheltered heart.
    She’d never met a man who hadn’t immediately fallen to her feet and declared his undying devotion, and perhaps that was what vexed her about this one.
    It made no sense whatsoever. How could some bespectacled, badly dressed, and ill-mannered nobleman pique her curiosity so, when at the same time, he made her feel so ungainly, so ill favored, so wretchedly inadequate with only one dismissive phrase?
    Tolerably pretty, indeed!
    Well, she wasn’t about to fall prey to any foolish, misplaced sentiments. Not her. Not one wit…She’d seen too many actresses fall in love with the wrong man, or rather, nobleman.
    Oh, they were kind enough—when it suited them. Even generous—when it suited them. But when they were donewith their actress du jour , they moved on, never looking back or making amends for the broken heart they left in their selfish wake.
    Well, this was one nobleman who wasn’t about to leave her heart on the wayside.
    So, with a deep breath and a wrenching pull, she freed herself from his grasp.
    Brushing her hand against her skirt, she told herself that was enough to break his spell.
    Yes, she could do this. Keep her promise. It wouldn’t be so hard. She just had to avoid touching him.
    Mason watched the lady brushing her hand over her skirt and wondered how long he’d been clasping it like a moonstruck fool.
    He probably should feel a bit guilty about having been less than forthcoming about the girls’ state of neglect.
    The last thing he needed now was for her to flee or point out his dishonesty, so he tried to sound encouraging. “I think this will work to our mutual benefit, Madame. My nieces are eager to be wed.”
    “Uncle!” Beatrice exclaimed, “we want no such thing.” She cast a scathing glance toward Cousin Felicity, who’d quietly