Her Perfect Earl
Bethany Brooks

Excerpt

A sudden flash of white to his right startled Julian from his thoughts. He jumped and raised the lantern higher. Reason dictated it was no ghost, but a human trespasser. When he peered around the edge, he was somehow unsurprised to find the scared, pale face of Esmerelda Fortune.

She was, of course, clad in nothing but her nightgown and wrapper. She looked as if she’d just come from her bed, and the image of her lying against rumpled sheets reawakened unwanted feelings in him.

“M…m…my lord,” she stumbled over the words but didn’t lose her composure. “I can ex…explain.”

The heat began below and rose to consume his chest, neck, and face. Her unbound hair fell around her face in a riot of corkscrew curls like a wild creature caught in the light of the moon. Her pale face flushed a bright pink, and the color lent an attractive sparkle to her eyes. Her mouth, slightly open, caused Julian to swallow as a sudden, fierce desire to claim her lips poured through him. Damn her eyes! And damn him for a fool for this insane attraction…