Read A Lady Undone for Free Online Page A

knows.”
    •   •   •
    If someone, anyone, had asked him a few hours earlier if he’d be in the company of a beautiful woman this night, he’d have laughed in their face. He wanted a wife, a true wife, one like Ian had with Eva or Edward with Mary. Or his father and mother.
    Men who frequented ladies of the night were not likely to find such a thing and long ago, he’d learned that he was not a man to enter into a dalliance lightly. Unlike most of the men of his acquaintance, his dratted feelings always managed to become entangled in his brief amours.
    Giving liaisons up had not been overly difficult. A war had kept him distracted, but in the last months, the desire to have a lady of his own, one he could care for, hopefully love, and have children with had grown from a long held dream to something he dared hope accomplish.
    He eyed Clare carefully, a ridiculous yet insistent voice humming,
She could be the one
.There was something about her as she sat across from him in the nondescript hackney that stirred feelings he’d only ever hoped he could have.
    The quiet strength about her seemed to overcome any fear she had. Those eyes, much older than her young years, stared out the fogged windowpane into the dark night. There was no hint of hysteria about her, just a calm sort of acceptance. All he could do was marvel.
    “You do stare a great deal, my lord,” she said suddenly, her gaze still fixed on the passing outskirts of London.
    He cleared his throat to cover his embarrassment at being caught out. “I do apologize, except . . . ”
    She turned her face to him. Blue-tinged moonlight spilled into the carriage, bathing her face in an otherworldly glow. The soft blond locks falling about her face appeared as spun silver, turning her into a mystical goddess, not just a woman. “Except?”
    Even that voice.
    He held his breath. Her soft yet deep womanly voice filled the space around them, caressing his skin, making him wish to hear nothing but her voice for hours. It was the stuff of timeless waters and restless wind.
    “My lord?”
    “You are captivating,” he finally said, accepting that admitting his preoccupation was the only thing to do.
    She narrowed her eyes, and in the moonlight, those orbs sparked like vengeful stars. “Are you about to be foolish?”
    “It depends. What would make a fool in your eyes?”
    “You sound as if you are a man who is about to make love to a woman.”
    “Have you been made love to, then?” he asked, doubting it very much.
    “Given that I have put myself into your keeping, this does not seem a wise or encouraging tack for you to take.”
    “Your safety is essential. The only reason why we are alone is because it is necessary, but nor will I lie to you. You evoke something in me which I have no wish to hide from view.”
    “Find the wish,” she clipped.
    “I’m not attempting to seduce you, if that’s what concerns you.”
    “No?” she challenged.
    “No,” he confirmed. And he wasn’t. A mere statement of truth was no seduction.
    She shifted on the seat, her hands folding tightly on her lap. “There have been men in the last few months, despite my late mourning, that have attempted to press an advantage. Who have spoken of my beauty because I am a wealthy widow.”
    “Ah.” His lips twitched at the image of her bombarded by poncing idiots. “No doubt, you have had odes composed to your earlobes.”
    She hesitated but then laughed. “Why must you do that?”
    “What?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Infuse everything with a sense of lightness?”
    “The world is dark enough as it is, madam,” he said gently. “I needn’t add to it, need I?”
    “No.” She eyed him carefully as though he was sporting a second head or something similarly strange. “I suppose not.”
    “This world would be a far better place if we all turned from darkness, and sadness, and let ourselves be merry.” It was a lesson he’d learned when he’d returned from war. He’d