One Naughty Night2 Read Online Free

loftytitles. They utterly ruined us once before—they would do it again without so much as a blink.”
    Lily had heard all this for years, ever since she became a St. Claire, and she surely hated anyone her family hated. The St. Claires did have good cause to despise the Huntingtons. But she also remembered the kindness in Aidan Huntington’s eyes on that long-ago night, the sweet desire that rose up in her at his kiss. Could he truly be as black-souled as the rest of his family?
    Of course he could. All men had the seeds of cruelty deep inside; she had learned that hard lesson over and over in her life. Even ones who hid behind a handsome face.
    Maybe especially those.
    Lily turned away from Dominic to rearrange the draperies. Now that her dream man was all too real, now that he had a name—and a hated name at that—she had to let him go. Harden her heart entirely even to his memory.
    “We have far too much to do to involve ourselves in quarrels,” Lily said, forcing herself to laugh. “Now, tell me more about these fashionable furnishings I must look for…”

Chapter Two
    “I ’m glad to see you haven’t completely forgotten your duty to your family, Aidan,” the Duke of Carston growled. He waved his walking stick menacingly at the hapless footmen who tried to help him maneuver his wheeled chair into the drawing room. “Your mother was sure you could never pull yourself away from your disreputable pursuits to visit us. We’ve been in town for a fortnight now.”
    “Perhaps if you’d let me know of your arrival, I might have ceased my disreputable pursuits and spared you an hour earlier,” Aidan said lightly. He leaned lazily against the marble mantel, arms crossed over his chest as he watched his father being lifted onto a brocade settee. The servants fluttered about like a mad flock of crows bearing tea and blankets. The duke shooed them all away with his stick.
    Aidan couldn’t help but grin at the sight.
The old rascal.
Even riddled with gout, he terrorized everyone. No wonder Aidan and his brother stayed away whenever they could. The damnably hot months Aidan spent in the West Indies were bearable because it was very, very far away.
    “If you were doing your duty and going about in good society, you would have known we were here,” the dukesaid. “Your mother’s friends say you refuse all their invitations.”
    “Because their balls and musicales and such are decidedly dull, Father, as you well know after years of enduring them. I have work to do.”
    “Work!” The duke gave a loud snort. “What sort of work d’you mean? Losing money at cards? Racing your blasted carriage? Chasing loose women?”
    Aidan laughed. Yes, he did all of that on occasion—but he wasn’t about to tell his father about his real work. As much as the duke disliked dissipation, he would hate Aidan’s true passion even more. “A gentleman never tells, Father.”
    “Gentleman? Humph!” The duke sat back on his settee and waved at the chair across from him. “Sit down already. You’re making my neck hurt staring up at you.”
    Aidan sat down, propping one booted foot on the low end table despite his father’s fierce frown. His mother had recently redecorated in the new “Scottish” style, with tartan taffeta draperies at the windows, plaid-edged carpets, and gewgaws on every surface. Aidan had to be careful not to knock over any vases or statuettes.
    “You’re right enough that those parties are dull as tombs,” the duke said. “But your mother wants you to go and meet her friends’ daughters. She’s been pining for grandchildren since you returned from the West Indies.”
    Aidan laughed. Was that what this official visit was all about? Settling down, begetting little Huntingtons? He wasn’t ready for that yet, not by a mile. He was not yet thirty. And all those daughters, who paraded before him every time he dared show his face in a ballroom, were a lot of brainless gigglers trussed up in pink