A Seduction at Christmas Read Online Free Page B

and why are you here?”
    It is to her credit that she stood in indecision a moment. She didn’t trust him, and she shouldn’t. Her gaze dropped to the purse.
    “Hester Bowen hired me to come here anddeliver a message to Lord Belkins. He jilted her and she’s very angry. I don’t believe she knew anything about this Ramigio you keep talking about, Your Grace.”
    Her lilting Scot’s accent didn’t detract from the culture and intelligence in her voice. She held her head high and her movements had a natural grace. This was not the sort of woman a man associated with Hester Bowen and her kind.
    He moved the purse an inch across the table toward her, prompting her, “And your name?”
    She swallowed, and then said, “Fiona.” She reached for the purse with her free hand, her shawl falling off her shoulder to hang loosely over one arm.
    Nick snatched up the purse. “One second,” he warned. “You haven’t answered all my questions yet. Besides, I find myself hungry. Aren’t you?”
    “No,” she said, even as her stomach rumbled loudly.
    Color flooded her cheeks. Nick almost laughed until he saw the flash of irritation in her eyes. “I answered the questions that were important,” she informed him. “You are changing the bargain.”
    “It’s my bargain to change,” he said. “And it is a long ride back to London.” As if to punctuate his words, a cold blast of air came down the chimney, making the flames in the fire dance. “A quick bite,” he urged soothingly, “and then you can be on your way.” He didn’t wait for her response but left the room, leaving the door open as he stood in the hall and called, “Denby, we want our supper.”
    “I was supposed to hang the scarf from the inside door handle to the outside,” Fiona said. “That was the signal we wished to be served.” She raised a hand to self-consciously push a stray lock of her hair back in place.
    He had her. He’d seduced enough women to know he’d crossed an important hurdle. Nick turned to give her a smile—and then was riveted in place by the memory of exactly when and where he’d seen her.
    “Lady Viner’s ball,” he said. “You were even wearing the same dress.” Amazing that he could remember even that detail.
    Her sudden stillness told him he was correct.
    Nick walked back into the room, shutting the door. He leaned his back against it. “My mother had arranged a match for me to a young woman the Duke of Colster was trying to rid himself of.”
    Her gaze narrowed. He’d touched a nerve. “He wasn’t trying to be rid of her. He’d thought to arrange a decent match.”
    With a shrug, Nick told her it didn’t matter tohim one way or the other. “Mother had made the arrangements on her own, asking a hefty price for her services. Mother has a greedy nature.”
    “As I remember you weren’t very interested in meeting the young woman.” And then, almost as if her pride couldn’t stop her, she said, “Who is my sister-in-marriage now. She’s a fine woman and a good wife to my brother.”
    “Then we wouldn’t have suited,” Nick surmised lightly. He wasn’t interested in the other woman or his mother’s misplaced avarice.
    “She married my brother that night,” Fiona informed him proudly. “They are very happy together.”
    Nick nodded, barely paying attention. She was so very lovely. “Fiona,” he said, wanting to test her name. “It fits you. There is a gracefulness to it.”
    He wanted her.
    The need was primal, instinctive.
    It had been a long time since he’d desired a woman so much.
    “I saw you in the ballroom,” he said. “I followed. You knew I was there.”
    She didn’t deny the charge. Resting her fingers on the back of the chair as if needing to steady herself, she said, “You didn’t remember me when I first came into this room.”
    The universal feminine complaint.
    Nick let a slow, easy smile cross his face. “I should have. I’d been drinking the night we met in the ballroom. So,