Tomorrow's Dreams Read Online Free

… with that admission you also concede to have wrongly accused Julian of ungentlemanly behavior. Surely you can see why you owe him an apology? Even the lowest gutter rat has that much honor.”
    Seth laughed, but in an awful, humorless way. “True enough, my love. True enough.” His lips contorted into a bitter line. “Even a gutter rat such as myself knows that it is proper to tender an apology … when one is due.”
    â€œYou’re deliberately twisting my words!” she snapped. “You know I wasn’t calling you a gutter rat. I was simply using the term to illustrate—”
    He cut her off with another laugh. “Words uttered in haste are always more candid than their well-considered counterparts. Invariably they reflect the speaker’s true thoughts.”
    â€œBut—” she sputtered.
    â€œBut we’re digressing,” he interjected in a cool tone. “I was about to give you my reason for not rushing to apologize to your professedly blameless Mr. Tibbett. While I admit to believing your explanation as to what he is doing in your dressing room, there are still a few things that have yet to be clarified.”
    â€œSuch as?”
    â€œSuch as what you were doing in his arms just now.”
    His baiting tone, not to mention his goading smirk, was enough to make Penelope’s foot itch to kick him. “For your information, Mr. Tyler , I insisted on getting up and going to my dressing table to prepare myself for your arrival … against Julian’s better judgment. When I stood up, I tripped over my hem, and as Julian explained, he caught me. You just happened to walk in before I’d had a chance to right myself.”
    â€œGetting up after what?” His voice was ladened with a wealth of lurid insinuation. “It seems to me that he’d have had to be mighty close to have been near enough to catch you like he did.”
    â€œFor God’s sake, man! Be reasonable!” Julian exploded.
    â€œReasonable would be to kill you for dallying with my fiancée,” Seth shot back.
    â€œWe weren’t dallying!” Penelope objected, while Julian narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists tighter.
    Seth’s face could have been carved from marble for all the warmth it possessed. “You have your definitions and I have mine. And in my book, engaging in the kind of amorous play I witnessed when I walked into this room qualifies as a dalliance.”
    Roaring his rage, Julian hurled himself at Seth, knocking Penelope to the floor in the process.
    Years of street fighting had made Seth an expert at self-defense, and he easily caught the other man’s fist before it connected with his jaw. In one fluid motion he wrestled his attacker’s arm behind his back, wrenching it until the man yelped with pain.
    Scrambling to her knees, Penelope cried, “Don’t, Seth! Please don’t hurt him!” When he continued to glare down at Julian, pointedly ignoring her pleas, she crawled over and frantically tugged at the hem of his evening cape. “Please, Seth.”
    The silence was thunderous as Seth slowly shifted his gaze from the grimacing man in his grasp to the woman kneeling at his feet. “Please let him go,” she entreated, her fingers tightening around the bunched fabric in her palm. “For me?”
    Making a disgusted sound deep in his throat, Seth looked away. Roughly seizing Julian by the hair with his free hand, he yanked his head back, forcing him to meet his gaze.
    â€œSince Miss Parrish seems to harbor a fondness for you and pleads so prettily on your behalf, I’m going to give you one chance to exit this room on your own accord. You’ll walk through that door and leave me and Miss Parrish to finish our business in private.” He jerked the man’s head back farther. “Understood?”
    â€œIf you think I’m going to leave Miss Parrish alone to face your