His to Hold (Regency Scoundrels Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

her traveling boot against the floor. “If you give it to me, I’ll use it now,” she said sarcastically.
    He chuckled again, but this time it snowballed into full out laughter. His laughter boomed out around her, filling the intimate space. She huffed out a large gust of air, and took a voluntary step toward him.
    “Pray, hand over my reticule. I don’t give a fig where you stuffed that blasted pistol. I don’t need it. I’ll get away from you without it. I don’t even care if you’ve stolen the coins I had inside. I realize the temptation would have proved to be far too great for a man such as yourself. I mean you are basically a thief, aren’t you? Besides, I shan’t bother you for long…I shall escape from you in due course.”
    His eyes sobered at that remark, and he stopped laughing.
    “I can assure you, Miss Elizabeth, that there is nowhere you can run to that will hide you from me. I’m like a bloodhound, and I have caught your beguiling scent. You need never fear that I shall ever forget it!”
    His fervent declaration, made her heart begin pounding against her ribcage. It thundered so loudly, that she feared he might hear it. She’d had many suitors, but there had only been one man other than Rafe that had affected her so deeply.
    She had danced with him several times at Lady Belmont’s Ball. Whenever she thought of Lady Belmont, she fondly remembered the plump matronly woman, with a crown of graying hair.
    Shame flooded her face, and she knew she was as red as a hot poker, as she remembered what that delicious man had brought her to the brink of that night. She had not even known his name, and yet she had acted wantonly with him. She had allowed him to lead her out to the estates maze.
    They had lost themselves within, and he had begun making ardent love to her. But he hadn’t been the only one participating in the ravishing. She had responded in kind, and had become more alive in his arms than she had ever felt.
    He was just about to take her maidenly honour, when another amorous couple had rudely interrupted them intent upon their own illicit assignation. Unfortunately, the man in the couple had been a friend of her aunt’s. She had been hauled out of the maze, and she had never laid eyes on her mystery lover again. She’d acted like a wanton hussy with him, and hadn’t regretted one moment of it.
    She sighed mournfully, and then stared up at Rafe. He gazed at her in the most unusual way. He seemed about to gobble her up, with his eyes. Swallowing thickly, she gestured toward her reticule.
    “Might I please have it?” She yearned to fold her hands around the reticule. Inside rested one of her most cherished possessions, something that she valued above anything else in her life.
    “You, my dear, are very fortunate that you resemble your mother, more than you resemble your father. Although the black hair…that might come from your father’s side. Though I daresay that Lady Susan favoured her mother’s side over her father’s side.”
    “How do you know so many intimate details of my life?” she demanded. Crossing the short distance to him, she managed to rip the reticule from his lax grip.
    “I’ve studied you and your family well. You might say that I know your maternal grandmother’s side of the family, as well as I know the back of my hand.”
    “You, sir, are a dirty rotten bastard.”
    “Well, shall we chalk that up to another one of your colourful insults thrown at me? You seem to have an endless supply.” He extended his hand toward her, and gently tilted her face up so that he could look at her straight in the eyes. “Why, are those tears glimmering in your eyes?” his question was spoken in a soft, and almost tender voice.
    She jerked her chin out of his gentle hold, and took an involuntary step backward.
    “You have brought sentimental memories to the forefront of my mind. Pray, do not flatter yourself, you were not the source of my tears.”
    She grimaced, as one