Romancing His English Rose (Entangled Scandalous) Read Online Free Page A

blond to a more vibrant ginger, but since when had it turned so fiery and…er…enticing?
    “Did you do something different to your hair?” he blurted out. He almost kicked himself for voicing that question aloud. He wanted to be smooth and debonair, not one of her girlfriends, for God’s sake.
    Rose smiled. “Yes, actually…my maid, Janice, styled it a bit differently than usual.”
    To his astonishment, Rose seemed to like that he’d asked about her hair. And now that she was looking up at him, Simon was able to notice a few more things about her that he didn’t think he had before. Perhaps it was the shiny red curls framing her face that made her skin appear so luminescent and soft, but that didn’t explain why her lips were suddenly so full and ripe and just begging to be kissed.
    Simon had to shake himself over that last thought. He should not be thinking about kissing Rose…anyone but Rose…but try as he might he couldn’t think of why he shouldn’t. It’s not as if she is your fiancée or anything, he thought drily. Why shouldn’t he want to kiss her?
    “Simon?”
    “Hmmm?” Simon vaguely heard Rose say his name, but he was still trying to figure out this new and unexpected impulse.
    “Simon?”
    “Yes, I am listening,” Simon responded automatically.
    “Simon!”
    This time Simon noted the somewhat frantic tone to Rose’s voice and he stopped his mental musings to truly look at her. It was then that he realized they were the only two left on the dance floor.
    He wasn’t exactly sure when the music had stopped, but judging by the way Rose was blushing (very becomingly, he could not fail to notice), it had probably been somewhere around the first Simon.
    Abruptly stepping out of the dance hold, he briskly took Rose by the arm and escorted her from the floor. Trying to ignore the quiet laughter and amused looks, Simon looked around quickly for somewhere to politely leave Rose.
    Not far from them were her parents. Under normal circumstances, Simon would avoid Lord and Lady Holderness like the plague, but these were not normal circumstances. He could not stand around making civil conversation with Rose right now, not while his brain was noticing things like her lips and her hair. He needed time to process these new feelings…time alone.
    Gently but firmly, Simon guided Rose over to the Warrens. Once there, he quickly kissed her knuckles, murmured some form of thank-you, nodded a greeting (that luckily doubled as a farewell) to her parents, and rapidly fled the scene.
    …
    Rose just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Simon’s behavior was beyond odd.
    First he noticed her hair. Then he kept dancing well after the music had stopped, and then he practically shoved her in the direction of her parents, before exiting posthaste.
    Well, the exit she understood, but everything else was peculiar to say the least.
    Honestly, Rose wasn’t sure what was going on with Simon, but something in the way he had looked at her—was her stomach fluttering just the tiniest bit? Surely not.
    But whatever it was, she was quite sure that waltz would remain the most memorable dance she had ever experienced.

Chapter Three
    Not trying is the only true failure.
    —The Duke of Lancaster
    Ten days later, Rose and her friends were seated in Lady Lancaster’s Blue Salon for their weekly Garden Society meeting. A lot had happened recently, but not necessarily to Rose.
    The day after the Sunderland Ball, she had sent the requested books to Lady Lancaster, along with the address for Dr. Orfila her father had managed to procure. A week ago at an earlier Garden Society meeting, the duchess mentioned that Rose was working on something that may bring Lord Shrewsbury to justice, but other than that it had been a relatively dull week and a half. Well, except for all the excitement surrounding the custom house. It had blown up, after all.
    Hannah had gone through quite an ordeal wrapping up the intrigue with her