Read Ruthless Charmer for Free Online Page A

and he certainly had not thought her extraordinary during her coming-out Season. Even after Valerie's death, on those rare occasions she would encounter him at some ball or rout, he acted as if he hardly knew her. Ah, but all that had changed when Phillip began to court her, hadn't it?
    "On my word, some things never change."
    Claudia jerked her head up—Kettering was looking at the tear in the sleeve of her gown, an unfortunate mishap when she had tried to force the carriage backward and off Herbert's foot. He leaned forward and probed the tear with his fingers, singeing the bare skin beneath it. "I rather imagine it had something to do with Herbert's accident," he surmised, and lifted his glittering gaze to hers. "Care to tell me why you were running away from Chateau la Claire?"
    Or shall we move directly to your punishment?
    Claudia moved her arm away from his touch. "You know, you have a very peculiar way of appearing when I least expect you."
    "I was just thinking the same of you. You didn't leave without bidding Eugenie a farewell—the two of you haven't fought again, have you?"
    She rolled her eyes at that ridiculous conclusion. "Although it is hardly any of your concern, I should inform you that we do not fight—Eugenie and I are no longer girls."
    "That," he drawled, "is quite evident, madam. If you don't want to tell me, I shall have it from Eugenie, you know, so you may as well 'fess up."
    Squirming uncomfortably, Claudia glanced over her shoulder in search of the innkeeper.
    "Very well, then, I shall have to conclude it was me," he said cheerfully.
    Oh, it was him, all right, everything about him. It was the way he looked, the polished way he spoke, the deadly charming way in which he smiled. It was that his name had been linked with every beauty among the ton, married or not—but never hers. And it was the way he had denigrated her when he told her she wasn't good enough for Phillip, then had turned around and led Phillip to his demise. It was all of that and a sense of urgency to flee before she was forced to confront those demons again, relive Phillip's death again, and the events leading up to it. She really did not want to despise Julian.
    But she did.
    "I confess I am rather keen to know why you would so desperately want to avoid me that you would run a man down. It rather injures my feelings."
    As if anything could injure his black heart. "I did not run a man down. I didn't actually see him until it was too late. Really, I am not obliged to answer."
    A chuckle rumbled through his chest. "But you will," he said in that terribly silky way of his.
    Claudia made a frantic motion for the innkeeper then, and when he acknowledged her, she turned to face her new escort. His black eyes locked with hers; a smile lazily lifted one corner of his mouth, and her insides somersaulted in response. That was exactly the problem—her insides always somersaulted when he smiled. But that didn't change who he was, and he couldn't sit with her, even if they were the last two people on the face of the earth. He was a selfish, arrogant, irresponsible rogue, and though Adrian Spence may have pulled the trigger, Phillip wouldn't have been standing on that field at all had it not been for Julian Dane.
    But God in heaven, why did he have to smile like that?
    "Oh, please!" she muttered hopelessly.
    With a slight frown of worry, Julian leaned forward. "What is it, Claudia?" he asked, managing to sound genuinely concerned.
    "Might we at least have a bottle of wine if we are to wait?" she asked, and immediately closed her eyes, mortified that those words had come out of her mouth.
Three
    Claudia could have a whole bloody barrel of wine if she wanted it, as far as Julian was concerned— anything to keep her exactly where she was. The innkeeper beamed with pleasure when Julian asked for his finest bottle of wine and quickly suggested a platter of cheese and bread to accompany it. Julian nodded absently to that as his attention was