A Study In Seduction

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Book: Read A Study In Seduction for Free Online
Authors: Nina Rowan
Tags: Romance, England, Historical Romance, Love Story, Regency Romance
relationships.”
    He stared at her. He couldn’t have been more surprised if she’d told him she actually
did
write erotic poems—just in a different notebook.
    “A mathematical basis for relationships?” he repeated, not understanding at all.
    “Yes. A pattern of behavior. I am using historical examples such as Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Helen and Paris, etcetera, to test my theories and establish proofs.”
    She was serious. She stood there clutching her infernal notebook, her blue eyes blinking without guile.
    “Proofs of… of
what
?” Alexander asked.
    “Patterns of attraction and rejection. For example, although Laura was a married woman who spurned Petrarch’s advances, he continued to pursue her through his sonnets. I believe I can describe their relationship by assigning variables to their emotions and creating differential equations.”
    Alexander was dumbfounded. The woman was trying to quantify love.
    “Lydia, I thought you were going to—”
    Both Alexander and Lydia turned as an elderly womanentered, her steps accompanied by the click of an ivory-handled cane. She stopped.
    “Grandmama, this is Viscount Northwood.” A hint of dismay colored Lydia’s voice. “Lord Northwood, my grandmother, Mrs. Charlotte Boyd.”
    “Mrs. Boyd.” He nodded in greeting, suppressing his annoyance at the interruption. How in the name of heaven did one quantify love? “A pleasure.”
    “Lord Northwood.” Mrs. Boyd looked at Lydia and back to him again. Something calculating sharpened her assessment. “Lydia has confessed she… disturbed you at your home.”
    She did, indeed.
    “I do apologize for her impertinence,” Mrs. Boyd added.
    “No need, Mrs. Boyd. Miss Kellaway and I have come to an agreement.” He cast a quick glance toward Lydia before returning his attention to Mrs. Boyd.
    “Have you?” The woman’s gaze narrowed. “Might I inquire what kind of agreement?”
    “It’s nothing, really,” Lydia broke in. “I’m working on some accounting for Lord Northwood in exchange for the locket.”
    Alexander studied the older woman to see if she saw through the lie, but rather than appearing suspicious, Mrs. Boyd seemed oddly pleased.
    “Well, I don’t think it’s quite proper for a woman to work on accounting,” she admitted, “but I do know that Lydia will be most accurate and thorough. She’s always had a head for numbers, my lord.”
    “So I’ve discovered.” He glanced at Lydia. “I’d best be on my way. I’m expected at the Society of Arts offices within the hour.”
    As he returned to the carriage, Sebastian’s words echoed through his head.
    Find yourself a sweet, empty-headed young chit.
    Alexander wouldn’t call Lydia Kellaway sweet. She was sharp and peppery, not sweet. As for empty-headed… he almost laughed. If anything, that woman’s head was crammed with far too many thoughts and suppositions. And young? She must be nearing thirty.
    He stared out the window. No. Miss Kellaway was too forthright, too opinionated, too prickly. Not to mention downright odd. She did not come from a prominent family. Society would think it a strange match. It wasn’t what people would expect of him.
    Yet he hadn’t been as intrigued by a woman in ages, if ever. He didn’t understand all she was about, but he was determined to try.
    He made her blush. Blush! How many years had it been since she—Lydia Kellaway, mathematical prodigy who at eight years of age studied differential and integral calculus—had blushed? At least, in a way that elicited a tingle of pleasure and the urge to smile.
    And when Lord Northwood looked at her, her heart fluttered like petals in a breeze.
    She wondered what he thought when he looked at her. Did he like what he saw? The heated look in his eyes suggested he did, but he was far more experienced in such matters than she was, so perhaps it was all a game to him.
    Or perhaps not.
    She pressed her hands to her cheeks, even now feeling them warm with

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