Rapturous Rakes Bundle Read Online Free

wholeheartedly. Lord Lucas Kes-
    trel was clearly a dangerous man.
    ‘You have it, Miss Raleigh,’ he said softly. ‘My
    most humble apologies.’
    Rebecca drew her hand from his grasp and cleared
    her throat.
    ‘I think that it is time for you to go now, my lord.’
    She rapped on the roof of the carriage. ‘Stop, please!
    Lord Lucas will be leaving us here.’
    She half-expected the Archangel’s coachman to ig-
    nore her command, but the carriage slowed obediently
    to a halt. Lord Lucas was not so biddable. He sat
    Nicola Cornick
    25
    watching her, a challenge in his gaze as though he
    were defying her to throw him out bodily.
    ‘What, are you to abandon me here?’
    ‘I am certain that you will be able to navigate the
    streets of London better than your brother,’ Rebecca
    said sweetly, ‘and since I have no desire to remove
    your clothes you will not be in need of begging a cloak
    from a kindly traveller.’
    Lucas grinned. ‘You put ideas into my head, Miss
    Raleigh.’
    Rebecca blushed. The ideas were in her head as
    well, erotic and disturbing, no matter that she tried to
    ignore them.
    ‘Disabuse yourself of them, my lord. I will bid you
    good night.’
    Lucas held her gaze for a long moment. There was
    something lazy but watchful about his scrutiny. ‘I am
    not entirely sure that I wish to go, Miss Raleigh,’ he
    murmured.
    Rebecca slipped her free hand into her reticule. Her
    fingers closed around the cold, reassuring shape of her
    engraving scribe. She whipped it out and levelled it at
    his throat. ‘Allow me to encourage your departure, my
    lord.’
    ‘The devil!’ Lucas’s eyes lit with unholy amuse-
    ment. He kept his gaze on the wickedly sharp diamond
    point. ‘What is that?’
    ‘A diamond-pin scribe for cutting glass. I use it for
    the very profession you derided a short while ago.’
    Rebecca touched the point of the pin with one gloved
    finger. ‘Diamonds are the hardest substance known to
    man, my lord.’
    26
    The Rake’s Mistress
    Lucas rubbed his chin ruefully. ‘Then it seems that
    you have something in common with them, Miss Ra-
    leigh.’
    ‘I do not think that you should be in any doubt of
    my profession now, nor of my sincerity in wishing you
    gone,’ Rebecca said.
    ‘No, indeed.’ Lucas’s gaze came up to her face and
    he smiled again, a real smile, wholly disarming, seri-
    ously dangerous. Rebecca felt her pulse skip. He in-
    clined his head in a gesture of acknowledgement.
    ‘Very well, Miss Raleigh, I shall leave you, but I shall
    see that your property is returned to you, all the same.’
    ‘Please do not trouble yourself,’ Rebecca said.
    ‘It is no trouble. Cloaks are expensive commodities,
    particularly for a lady obliged to earn her own living.
    I shall return it in person.’
    Rebecca felt her temper flicker again. ‘Pray save
    yourself a tiresome task, my lord, and send a servant
    with it. That would surely be more appropriate.’
    She saw Lucas’s amusement that he had got under
    her skin. ‘That would be too shabby. Will you furnish
    me with your direction, Miss Raleigh?’
    ‘Certainly not,’ Rebecca said.
    Lucas sighed. ‘I shall find it out anyway.’
    ‘But not from me.’
    Lucas sighed again. ‘Then I shall leave you, Miss
    Raleigh, with the promise to see you again soon.’
    He opened the door of the carriage and sprang down
    without bothering to lower the steps. Rebecca’s last
    view of him was a tall figure standing beneath the
    street lamp, a dusting of raindrops already on his hair.
    She sat back as the carriage moved off again and
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    27
    gave a huge sigh. She did not regret helping Stephen
    Kestrel for he seemed a pleasant enough young man.
    His elder brother was another matter. Forceful, confi-
    dent, with a face like a fallen angel and a touch that
    threatened to overset all good sense... Rebecca shook
    her head. She had a rule about staying away from gen-
    tlemen like Lucas Kestrel, men who were rakish and
    dangerous