What A Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden
Notorious rogue David Reece is determined to mend his wicked ways. Vivian Beecham is the very last sort of woman to help him do that, as an admitted thief and a thief who robbed him, no less. But the last sort of woman David needs in his life might just be the only one he can’t live without…
David could tell by the change in her face that she was done talking to him. He sat back with an inexplicable sense of disappointment. For no good reason, he liked this woman. She was nothing but trouble, and had done a masterful job of giving him a very cold shoulder, but David found her just as intriguing as he had that day on the stage coach. He was growing more and more determined to get her to talk to him…hopefully about where to find his ring, but any topic would do at this point.
He stretched out his bad leg and relaxed in the chair. “Oh, dear. You’ve gone silent again. I must have put my foot in it somehow. That always seems to be the reason ladies refuse to speak to me: I’ve said something wrong, or forgotten to say the right thing, or not said anything when I ought to have said something, even though I seldom know what I ought to have said, let alone that I ought to have said it.” She made a funny little noise, and David heaved a sigh. “Yes, that must be it. I’m quite accustomed to the fact that these little misunderstandings are always my fault. I do wish someone would write a primer on the subject: How to Handle a Lady. Not that I’m the most studious chap, mind, but that manual I could most certainly read.”
The food was gone. She was fussing with the spoon, scraping it along various plates and bowls, but he could tell she was listening to him.
“The trouble is,” he went on, “you’ve become a challenge. I don’t normally have trouble getting ladies to speak to me at the beginning, that is. Yet you, my dear, are most hard-hearted. I cannot make you smile. I cannot make you laugh. I cannot tease one polite word from you.”
“Bugger yourself,” she muttered.
“There you go, two words, and neither of them polite. What shall I do?” He put his head to one side, studying her. Her face was flushed, but she kept her gaze on the breakfast tray. “Perhaps if I put you on bread and water rations until you tell me your name?” he said thoughtfully. Then her eyes did turn his way, half alarmed, half contemptuous. It came to David instantly, that she’d lived on bread and water before. She wouldn’t like it, but she wouldn’t be broken by it. “No, that most certainly would not be the proper way to treat a lady,” he said in the same tone. “Perhaps if I tempt you…” He smiled slowly. “Yes, that’s it. I quite like tempting ladies. I shall have to think carefully about what will tempt you most.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table and giving her a smile. “Talk to me, Mrs. Gray,” he murmured. “I’ll persuade you one way or another.”
Read the first chapter here. (you may need to use Internet Explorer – Firefox may not view this properly)
