Excerpt of Her Notorious Viscount by Jenna Petersen

The corner of Stoneworth’s lips lifted, but it made more of a snarl than a smile. “And who are you?”

Jane lifted her gaze to his, startled. “Oh, yes. I apologize. My name is Jane Fenton.”

“No, not your name. Who are you?” He tilted his head. “I don’t think we’ve met before. Although you do look… familiar somehow.”

She nodded, thinking of the brief way he had looked at her earlier in the evening. Trying not to think of the shameful thrill his meaningless perusal had given her. Now he didn’t even recall her face.

“Y-You might have seen me tonight at the Glouchester ball,” she explained.

“In that gown?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as if he were examining her serviceable, woolen frock.

More heat flooded Jane’s cheeks, but this time it was angry, as well as embarrassed. “Your cravat was crooked and you haven’t shaved for two days, at least. You have no room to judge-”

She caught herself, swallowing back the rest of her heated response to his jab. When she was pressed, Jane often had the terrible habit of letting honesty get in the way of tact. Her father had sometimes joked that she got her temper the moment she inherited the ruddy highlights in her otherwise plain brown hair. Now that “red-headed temper” might have cost her dearly.

She held her breath as she awaited Nicholas Stoneworth’s reaction.

But when he moved even closer, she found he was smiling at her. Something a bit more genuine than the feral snarls and false smirks she had seen him exhibit tonight.

“It seems I have hit upon a sore spot for you,” he said with an exaggerated bow. “I do apologize.”