Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,10

daresay I will never even see Lord Jack again.”

Mrs. Pennant harrumphed. “A pity.” Then she waved her thin-boned hand in dismissal. “Well, take yourself off to bed, child. I need my sleep.”

Obediently, Sophie kissed her relative’s wrinkled cheek and let herself out. But as she made her way to her own bedchamber in the guest wing of the house, she couldn’t help reflecting on Lord Jack Wilde.

He made her feel acutely alive and set her blood racing. She also appreciated his sharp wit, even if it was difficult to hold her own with him. She even enjoyed his shocking, provocative manner, despite his dubious claim of wanting to test if they were a match.

Regardless of her feelings for him, though, it was pointless to speculate about a future with him. She doubted he was the least bit serious about her. More likely he was out to make mischief and was only entertaining himself by toying with her. Or perhaps his female relatives truly had twisted his arm to meet her.

Remembering Lady Katharine’s outlandish theory about them acting out Romeo and Juliet, Sophie shook her head. The very idea was preposterous. Unlike Shakespeare’s play, there could be no falling in love with Lord Jack at first glance. She could have nothing to do with him.

In addition to the feud, he was all wrong for her—the opposite of the proper, highborn husband her parents coveted for her. Although his altruism was highly admirable.

It was curious that he wished to keep his contributions to the Arundel Home a secret. He’d acted as if his championing helpless women was of little consequence, but Sophie knew he had impacted numerous lives for the better.

His contradictions intrigued her, a known rakehell aiding unwed mothers. Likely his compassion and benevolence stemmed from his own late mother’s circumstances. But whatever the cause, he evidently had a great deal more substance than the typical blue-blooded buck.

Or perhaps her enchantment stemmed from some flaw in herself. Undeniably, she was secretly drawn to his bold, rebel nature. Lord Jack was a charming black sheep in a family of charming black sheep. He had fire and passion and was wildly exciting, rather than dull and pleasantly boring. Of course it was vastly more enjoyable being seduced by a breathtakingly amorous pirate than having her toes crushed by a kind but awkward older duke. There really was no contest.

In any event, she needed to remember that it was highly dangerous to associate with Lord Jack, for he made her feel things she ought never feel. She would have liked to blame him for kindling this rebellious streak inside her, but that wouldn’t be fair. Of late she’d felt a vague impatience with her life, a restlessness that had grown stronger over the past few weeks. The closer she came to securing a proposal of marriage from Dunmore, the more she longed for freedom.

Yet she had a very specific plan for her future and had to adhere to it. Even if she yearned for a love match with a man who inspired her deepest passions, the idea that she could marry for love was merely a self-indulgent fantasy. She knew her duty. She was her parents’ only child now and they depended on her.

If that meant she was obliged to marry a widowed duke who was more than twice her age, then she would willingly sacrifice her own self-interests and make a marriage of convenience.

As for Lord Jack Wilde … Sophie frowned as she let herself into her luxuriously appointed bedchamber. She was supremely vexed at herself for succumbing so easily to his brazen seduction. She had wholeheartedly returned his passionate kisses tonight in a temporary moment of insanity, and she would not let it happen again.

After the masquerade, Jack made appearances at another ball and then a gaming hell, so the evening was well-advanced when he arrived home. He was unsurprised, however, to learn from his footman that Lady Skye awaited him in his drawing room.

Jack heaved a long-suffering sigh, knowing what was to come. Several years ago, he’d moved out of his adopted brother’s London mansion in Grosvenor Square and into his own town house in a newer neighborhood northeast of Hyde Park, largely because he wanted to live his life away from the watchful eye of his loving but meddlesome family. All five cousins had grown up together and become as close as siblings after losing both sets of their parents to a tragic shipwreck at sea when Jack was seventeen