Marrying Winterborne (The Ravenels #2) - Lisa Kleypas Page 0,135
could look into those remarkable light blue eyes, alive with glints of fire and ice, without recalling that he had once been the most wicked rake in England. He still was—Evie could attest to that.
Time had treated Sebastian lovingly, and always would. He was a beautiful man, lean and elegant, his tawny golden hair now lightly brushed with silver at the temples. A lion in winter, whom no one would cross except at their peril. Maturity had given him a look of cool, incisive authority, the sense of a man who had seen and experienced enough that he could rarely, if ever, be outmaneuvered. But when something amused or touched him, his smile was both incandescent and irresistible.
“Oh, it’s you,” Sebastian said in a tone of mild surprise, seeming to ponder how he had ended up kneeling on a bathroom rug with his wife in his arms. “I was prepared to debauch a resisting servant girl, but you’re a more difficult case.”
“You can debauch me,” Evie offered cheerfully.
Her husband smiled slightly, his glowing gaze moving gently over her face. He smoothed back a few escaping curls that had lightened from ruby to soft apricot. “My love, I’ve tried for thirty years. But despite my dedicated efforts . . .” A sweetly erotic kiss brushed her lips. “. . . you still have the innocent eyes of that adorably shy wallflower I eloped with. Can’t you try to look at least a little jaded? Disillusioned?” He laughed quietly at her efforts and kissed her again, this time with a teasing, sensuous pressure that caused her pulse to quicken.
“Why did you come to find me?” Evie asked languidly, her head tilting back as his lips slid to her throat.
“I’ve just received news from town regarding your son.”
“Which one?”
“Gabriel. Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than his run-of-the-mill vice and depravity.”
“Why is he your son when you’re pleased with him, and my son whenever he’s done something wicked?” Evie asked as Sebastian removed her apron and began to unfasten the front of her bodice.
“Since I’m the virtuous parent,” he said, “it only stands to reason that his wickedness must come from you.”
“You h-have that exactly backward,” she informed him.
“Do I?” Sebastian fondled her as he considered her words. “I’m the wicked one? No, my pet, that can’t be right. I’m sure it’s you.”
“You,” she said decisively, her breath catching as he kissed the newly revealed hollow at the base of her throat.
“Hmm. This must be sorted out at once. I’m taking you straight to bed.”
“Wait. Tell me more about Gabriel. What has he done?”
Lifting his head, Sebastian looked down at her with a slight frown. He sighed shortly. “There’s been a scandal.”
“Another one?”
“It’s serious this time. He’s managed to compromise an earl’s daughter. One of the Ravenels.”
Evie frowned, pondering the name, which sounded somewhat familiar. “Do we know that family?”
“I was acquainted with the old earl, Lord Trenear. His wife was a flighty, shallow sort—you met her once at a garden show and discussed her orchid collection.”
“Yes, I remember.” Unfortunately, Evie hadn’t liked the woman. “They had a daughter?”
“Twins. Out for their first Season this year. It seems that your idiot son was caught in flagrante delicto with one of them.”
“He takes after his father,” Evie said.
Looking highly insulted, Sebastian rose to his feet in a graceful motion and pulled her up with him. “His father was never caught.”
“Except by me,” Evie said smugly.
Sebastian laughed. “True.”
“What does in flagrante delicto mean, exactly?”
“The literal translation? ‘While the crime is blazing.’” Picking her up easily, he said, “I believe a demonstration is in order.”
“But what about the s-scandal? What about Gabriel, and the Ravenel girl, and—”
“The rest of the world can wait,” Sebastian said firmly. “I’m going to debauch you for the ten thousandth time, Evie—and for once, I want you to pay attention.”
“Yes, sir,” she said demurely, and looped her arms around her husband’s neck, as he carried her to their bedroom.
For the story of Lady Pandora Ravenel and Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent,
keep an eye out for
Devil in Spring
About the Author
LISA KLEYPAS graduated from Wellesley College with a political science degree. She is a RITA® Award-winning author of both historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction. Her novels are published in fourteen different languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Washington State with her husband, Gregory, and their two children.
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By Lisa Kleypas
MARRYING WINTERBORNE
COLD-HEARTED RAKE
SCANDAL IN SPRING
DEVIL IN WINTER
IT HAPPENED ONE AUTUMN
SECRETS OF A SUMMER NIGHT
AGAIN THE MAGIC
WHERE’S MY HERO?
(with Kinley McGregor and Julia Quinn)
WORTH ANY PRICE
WHEN STRANGERS MARRY
LADY SOPHIA’S LOVER
SUDDENLY YOU
WHERE DREAMS BEGIN
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
STRANGER IN MY ARMS
BECAUSE YOU’RE MINE
SOMEWHERE I’LL FIND YOU
THREE WEDDINGS AND A KISS
(with Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Catherine Anderson, and Loretta Chase)
PRINCE OF DREAMS
MIDNIGHT ANGEL
DREAMING OF YOU
THEN CAME YOU
ONLY WITH YOUR LOVE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.