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

hesitations, he offered Lyndhurst a pinch. The pause didn’t go unnoticed.
    Lyndhurst glanced at Blaize’s face before he shook his head. “Thank you, I prefer my own blend.”
    Blaize helped himself, taking snuff with such a graceful gesture, Aurelia’s attention remained on him. He smiled. “I take it you don’t indulge?”
    She shuddered in revulsion. “No, thank you.” She’d tried it once, stealing a pinch from the box her brother kept in his study. Disgusting. She hadn’t stopped sneezing for an hour. Some women took it, but she was not one of them. Blaize’s fond smile indicated an intimacy that took her back to the scene in the pavilion. Meant for the others to see, probably, but that didn’t stop her smiling back.
    A moment of intimacy passed between them, even in this crowded space. The ballroom had filled up since they’d left. Already comfortably full, now the affair threatened to become a sad squeeze—in short, a triumph. For a first ball, her mother had handled it beautifully, managing to get a date early in the Season that was crammed with rival events. Only three tonight.
    “You wish to dance, Lady Aurelia?” Lyndhurst sounded smug, and the implied intimacy of using her given name indicated a familiarity Blaize shouldn’t have won yet. Even if he had. Curtsying, she gave the correct response and went with him.
    He was handsome, attentive, and he had her mother’s blessing. What more could she want than Lyndhurst, who was showing a decided partiality for her? Her gaze strayed to the corner of the ballroom where Blaize stood, silently watching, his lips compressed into a tight line.
    She wanted him .

Chapter Two
    Dressed in frivolous sky-blue, a colour that defied the grimy streets of London to spoil it, Stretton stood at the entrance to Aurelia’s mother’s drawing room and gave Aurelia a private smile before turning his greeting to a public one. The light in his eyes disappeared as he turned his attention to the company.
    “Good day.” He bowed, a perfect sweep of his arm delineating his expensively clad form, his trim figure.
    While they didn’t actually draw in their skirts, the mamas attending this “at home” responded frostily. All except one, who smiled at him from below sultry eyelids. An ex-lover, one whose possessiveness had eventually grown too much to bear. He ignored her, merely stopping to exchange pleasantries with one of the women who hadn’t greeted him warmly. He took no notice of her daughter, or no more than he had to, and rose to smile at someone else as he slowly made his way across the room.
    Lyndhurst, who was sitting next to Aurelia, growled under his breath. “You were saying, sir?” she asked, just as if she hadn’t heard him.
    “Do not encourage Stretton,” he murmured. “He’s dangerous.”
    Flicking out her fan, she plied it gracefully, trying not to show the evidence that she needed it. The day was not particularly warm, but her face felt hot. “He doesn’t look dangerous to me.”
    “But he is. You must be aware of his reputation.”
    Back in control of herself now, apart from a rapidly beating heart, she answered him. “Reputations are not certain, are they? What if you find a significant difference between the stories and the person himself?”
    “Then I would expect you to take great care. I would expect your friends to attempt to take care of you.”
    Instead of protection, Aurelia had the strong impression of bars closing around her, making it impossible for her to escape. Would Lyndhurst prove a restrictive husband? Because she had no doubt that was where he was heading. Yes, he would. His attentions to her in Scotland and now here, flattering as they were, also demonstrated his intent beyond words.
    Aurelia didn’t have the forthright manner of many young women of her acquaintance. Histrionics distressed her as much as the person deploying them. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t face unpleasantness to get what she wanted—what she