Mad for Love: Even Gods Fall in Love, Book 2 Read Online Free

long, sweet Aurelia, or I fear I’ll never last.”
    “You’re fickle?”
    “Not when I’ve seen what I want.” His voice turned grave. “Once that happens, nothing will deter me from my course.”
    Would she like that? With an inward shudder of desire, she knew that she would. Any attempt to fool herself otherwise would be futile.
    Back in the ballroom, little had changed. People still danced. With a shock, Aurelia realized their absence had encompassed barely twenty minutes. The pretty gilt clock set above the cold fireplace told her so. However, her absence wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.
    As soon as she set foot in the room, her mother was on her, her glare asking her where she’d been without words. Aurelia felt the force of her mother’s anger like a strong breeze blowing over her cheeks.
    Blaize took a small step forward, partly sheltering her from her mother’s fury, but he didn’t know how she reacted. Aurelia had learned that resistance only made her mother worse and more determined to have her way. She found it much better to docilely agree and then take her own path anyway. The few times she’d been forced into doing something she didn’t want to had proved worth all the times she’d done as she wished.
    Not that Blaize would know this. Aurelia could only try to warn him off. If her mother took against him, their opportunities to meet again would be severely curtailed.
    Almost as if he could hear her, he glanced at her and stepped to one side, performing an elegant bow. “It has been my privilege to escort your daughter to the refreshment room, ma’am, and for a brief foray into the gardens.” He gave her another glance, but none of the intimacies they’d exchanged showed in his gaze, friendly at the most. “Many others were doing the same. I trust I didn’t outstay my welcome?”
    The duchess stared at him for one fraught moment. “Are there other people outside?”
    “Twenty at least, by my reckoning.”
    She gave a sharp nod. “Very well.”
    A tall, dark figure was heading determinedly toward them.
    The dowager exclaimed in delight. “Why, I didn’t know the Duke of Lyndhurst was arriving today! What a pleasant surprise, your grace!”
    Aurelia had to smile too. Although the duke had a naturally stern mien, he’d never shown her anything but kindness and consideration. Instead of moving away, Blaize remained by her side, and she felt the tension in the atmosphere increase as the two squared up to each other.
    Blaize was leaner, more athletic, but the men were of a height, Lyndhurst perhaps an inch taller. Lyndhurst’s shoulders were squarer, his chest broader, but Aurelia didn’t know which she’d back in a fight, because Blaize had a slick swiftness that the more powerfully built Lyndhurst could lack. Why was she thinking of fights?
    However, Lyndhurst had one major advantage, which he was currently explaining to Blaize in answer to his query as to why they hadn’t met before.
    “I’ve been abroad until recently, with the army.”
    Blaize frowned. “Lyndhurst. Yes, I have it now. You’re the second son, aren’t you?”
    The insult had nothing subtle about it, but instead of taking umbrage, Lyndhurst’s eyes sparked in delight, accepting the gauntlet as if it were a game. “Yes, I am and heartily wish I’d remained so. My advisors virtually ordered me to sell out when I inherited the title.”
    “The army suited you?”
    Although wearing ordinary clothes, Lyndhurst had the air of a military man, his coat and breeches a dull olive in contrast to his cream waistcoat, everything arranged with clean precision. As were his movements. “It did. The battleground I currently find myself on is far less well-defined.”
    “And you like definition.”
    Lyndhurst gave a grim smile. “Who does not?”
    “Subtler minds, perhaps?” Blaize drew a diamond-encrusted snuffbox from his pocket and flicked it open with a practiced gesture of finger and thumb. After the briefest of