Deceived Read Online Free Page A

cruelty to the sound. “Only fine?”
    “What answer do you want, my lord?” she whispered.
    He shifted at her sharp response, but did not pursue it. “You look very well. That green in your gown is quite fetching.”
    She looked down at her dress swiftly. She could admit, though only to herself, that she had chosen it on purpose to bring out her eyes. She was far from vain. In fact, she considered her eyes her only good feature. Why not accentuate them?
    “Thank you,” she said.
    At her reticence to expound or make any effort to drive the conversation, he shifted. “Well, I should take you into the parlor with the rest of the family.”
    At that suggestion, she drew back. “Oh no, I couldn’t intrude upon family,” she said.
    “But—” he began, a strange look on his face that made her feel foolish.
    And feeling foolish, especially at this man’s hand, made her defensive. “Honestly, why do you argue?” she asked. “I am not like my mother—I know when a day is special enough not to want interlopers.”
    He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I shall take you out to the terrace where the ceremony will be held. There are chairs there for guests.”
    Josie nodded with relief. Once she joined the rest of the guests, she would be able to excuse Evan and this awful little encounter would end at last.
    Except as he guided her through the hallways toward a door that led out onto the wide, stone terrace that wrapped all the way around the manor house, she felt less than eager to see Evan vanish forever.
    Why did he have to smell so good?
    He pushed the door open and they moved onto the terrace. But instead of being greeted by dozens upon dozens of people from the village and London, Josie was shocked to find not another person there. Just a few chairs arranged before a flower-wrapped wooden arch where Audrey and her intended would soon say their vows.
    “What—I—what is going on? Where are the rest of the guests?” she stammered as she spun to face Evan.
    He folded his arms. “I tried to tell you that everyone was in the Yellow Room.”
    She set her jaw. He was being deliberately obnoxious. “You said family was in the Yellow Room.”
    “Yes.” He sighed. “This is a small affair, Josie. Aside from a very select group, the only others in attendance are family.” He motioned her to a chair. “But now that we are here, it is actually very nice. Inside they are all talking at once and trying to figure out who will wed next. It’s quiet here. So since you insisted on coming out here, I insist on joining you.”
    Josie’s heart sank. Everyone talking at once was perfect for her. She loved that. It meant she could slink against the wall and be forgotten. But out here, with the sun on her face and no one but the one person she didn’t want to talk to at her side, she was…exposed.
    But since she had demanded this course of action, she could think of no way to escape it and so followed him to the chairs and took the place he motioned to. He sat beside her and closed his eyes, lifting his face to the sun with a long, satisfied sigh.
    She took that moment to look at him again. By God, but he had the nicest lips. He was awful. She had to remember that. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate his finer qualities.
    “So your mother said that Audrey’s nuptials are being discussed in London,” he said, finally opening his eyes and sliding his dark gaze toward her. “What are they saying?”
    “Aside from the part about the love match?” Josie asked. He nodded. “They say that it was a whirlwind.”
    He arched a brow. “You know what I’m asking. Are they speaking unkindly about her? About Jude?”
    Josie shifted. “They—they do call him a servant, though it seems that isn’t really true once what he did for your brother is described. And they talk about that his uncle is a viscount but that the family shunned him.”
    Evan straightened up and those full lips she had been secretly