The Scoundrel's Secret Siren Read Online Free

of the village twinkling in the distance. The whole situation was so very unexpected that Lorelei could not find it in herself to feel bashful, though she was aware of a strangely pleasant tension at his nearness.
    Half a mile from the village , he broke the silence again, his fingers flexing lightly along her ribs. “If you will not tell me your purpose, will you at least give me a name by which to call you?” he teased.
    “Why, no, sir I will not.  Besides , you have not given me yours.”
    “My name? Very well, if that is all you wish of me,” his voice was a cares s, “my name is Alistair Tilbury. I am the sixth Earl of Winbourne.”
    The name sounded familiar, though nothing concrete came to mind. She supposed she might have heard it mentioned somewhere in passing. Certainly she did not know any earls herself, apart from the Earl of Finley, who was a friend of her father’s and rather elderly. “Well, my lord Winbourne,” she said, drawing the horse to a halt, suddenly sure that remaining in his company was a danger to her, though she was not certain in what way, “this is where I set you down. I cannot go into the village, after all.”
    “But how shall I find you again, my elusive siren? For you still owe me your name.”
    “ By your own words, I am an apparition, sir. And so you cannot ever find me, for I shall fade to nothingness with the first light of day,” she whispered, suddenly knowing that this was very true. In the unlikely event that she ever crossed paths with Alistair Tilbury, she could never reveal herself to be his mysterious ghost. It was a fancy that did not belong in fashionable Society. And there was no chance that ordinary Lorelei Lindon would ever catch the eye of such a man.
    The hand that had been resting over her ribs slid up her arm and along her jaw, caressing the sensitive skin beneath her veil, brushing the delicate fabric aside. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek and it sent tingles through her body.
    “Then I must steal my kiss before this night is through,” he said in a husky voice, while his other hand grasped her shoulder and pulled her against his chest. Before she could react, he tilted her chin towards him, and then his lips covered hers in a searing kiss that she could feel pulsing through every inch of her trembling body.
    He r heart pounded in her ears. Propriety demanded that she pull away, protest, but instead she found herself lost in the sensation, the romance, of the moment. His hand brushed her throat and tangled in her hair, making her shiver. For a second, Lorelei felt a strange tug at her collar, but paid it no attention, so lost was she in the caresses of his sensual mouth. The kiss was over as suddenly as it had begun and he was on the ground beside her, tipping his hat to her politely as if they had met at a picnic in town.
    “ Well, my lady Ghost, good bye. Until we meet again.”
    Turning her mare around, still in a daze, Lorelei set Tulip into a gallop, hoping that the exercise would return some sense into her dazed brain. She did not look back. She knew that to do so would be very dangerous indeed. It was a good thing Tulip knew her way home, because Lorelei could not bring her mind to focus on anything as mundane as directions.
    It was not until she was home and undressing , while trying to answer her sister’s eager questions without revealing her strange encounter, that she realised the chain with her mother’s moonstone pendant was gone.

Chapter 2
     
    “It is a lovely colour on you, my dear,” said Lady Hurst, while the modiste draped the pale pink fabric over Lorelei’s shoulders.
    “But, Lady Hurst, I am not at all certain I need another gown,” Lorelei protested weakly, though she had to admit that it was a lovely colour.
    “Stuff! You father gave express orders that you are to be p roperly dressed for your first Season, and pale pink is the perfect colour for a girl only just presented. Oh! That reminds me! We must see