Someone Irresistible

Someone Irresistable - Adele Ashworth

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v1.0

May 2007

Someone Irresistable - Adele Ashworth

Page 2 of 226

Someone

Irresistible

Adele Ashworth

London is the place to be in 1851. The crisp
spring air is vibrant and alive with excitement in
anticipation of the unveiling of the magnificent
Crystal Palace. But can a star-crossed love
finally bloom in the midst of the tumult?

Mimi Marsh has adored the brilliant and dashing Nathan Price in secret for years. One brief, rapturous moment is all they have shared, and she yearns passionately for more. But since that night, Nathan has known the exhilaration of triumph… and the pain of personal ruin. How can Mimi hope to win back his trust and affection in light of all Nathan has been through? With her soft gaze and gentle words she invites him back into her soul—and Mimi sees the desire that burns in his eyes whenever she enters the room. The only woman ever to have captured this wounded man’s love, Mimi is now the only one who can save him.

But will proud, wronged Nathan ever embrace the power of her passion—and open his guarded heart to a miraculous, once-in-a-lifetime romance?

contents

Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23

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.

AVON BOOKS

An Imprint of
HarperCollins
Publishers
10 East 53rd Street

New York, New York 10022-5299

Copyright © 2001 by Adele Budnick

ISBN: 0-380-81806-X

www.avonromance.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Avon Books paperback printing: December 2001

Printed in the U.S.A.

Iguanodon

lived 120 million years ago

England

lives in marshes and swamps

found in sandstone and clay eats shrubs and horse tails Early Cretaceous

lives in the horse tail swamp

—
Helpful notes as written by my eight-year-old son, Andrew, 1999

This one is dedicated to you,

my sweet, inquisitive angel.

^ »

London

June, 1851

H
e’d never before noticed that her eyes were brown, and round, and quite…striking. But then Nathan wasn’t all that used to noticing the eye color of any female, really. Weren’t most people’s eyes some shade of brown or another? Those eyes were also attached to a rather lovely face, he noticed with a touch of dry humor. He’d never really paid all that much attention to her face, either, even though he’d been acquainted with Mimi Marsh for several years through his professional association with her father. Of course he hadn’t seen her in at least eight or nine months, but faces didn’t change, did they?

Hers was certainly distinctive, he decided, now that he studied it

closely. Her jaw was a bit too square to be considered perfect, he supposed, and her forehead was on the high side. But her skin was fair, creamy, and flawless, and her mouth was full, pink, and… arresting. She was listening intently to an older gentleman Nathan didn’t know, nodding vaguely at something the man said, and Nathan couldn’t help but stare at those two rose colored lips as they parted in a conscientious smile. Strange that he hadn’t noticed the uniqueness of her face—and especially those eyes—before tonight.

Mentally shaking himself, he dropped his gaze to the crystal champagne flute in his hand. His preoccupation with Miss Marsh was likely caused by the drink. He’d already downed one glass, probably more than he should have, and that would never do. He needed to remain focused on the night ahead, certainly not on her, or on any woman, for that matter.

Nathan lifted the flute to his lips, swallowing the remaining contents in two easy gulps. It was quite good, but that was about all he detected of the champagne’s quality with his nerves as jumpy as they were. The greatest moment of his twenty-seven years, the moment when he would become a shining star in the scientific world, was nearly upon him. In less than an hour, he would be unveiling a precious jawbone, the greatest treasure he had ever uncovered from the depths of the earth—

or had ever seen, for that matter—and every eye in the scientific community would be focused on him and his extraordinary prize.

She’d also grown breasts, he observed with a sort of confused fascination, as his eyes drifted upward again unintentionally. How had he missed that, last he saw her? Or maybe it was just her particular low-cut evening gown enhancing something he’d never had the opportunity to assess until now. She had to be at least twenty years old, and still slender, though tonight she seemed… proportioned. Like a woman. Odd that he’d never really considered Mimi Marsh a woman before.

But those were very definitely breasts jutting from her gown in two pale, softly smooth handfuls. It was an uncomfortable notion, thinking of Mimi as a woman with breasts, with a body he might be eager to explore. Especially since she stood next to her very ordinary sister, Mary, and several gentlemen, including her father, Sir Harold Marsh, the famous, talented dinosaur sculptor. It was Nathan’s opinion that no lady should be scrutinized so thoroughly when standing next to her father.

Her gaze flickered in his direction, and one side of that pink mouth turned up coyly when she captured his eyes with hers, just briefly. He nodded once to her, minutely, before she turned back to acknowledge something her father said.

Suddenly he sensed the bothersome prickling in his groin that he had no business feeling for any female right now. Chastising himself for allowing his mind to wander, Nathan swung around purposefully and placed his drained flute on an empty exhibition table next to the glass wall.

This was the opening night of what was termed the Great Exhibition of 1851. The night the grand exposition began inside the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, and probably the greatest night for scientists in recent memory. Designed by Joseph Paxton, a gardener for the Duke of Devonshire, the enormous glass structure had the look of a greenhouse, but it encased, among other things, the most amazing assortment of recently discovered dinosaur bones ever recovered in this country. And tonight he, Nathan Price, one of England’s finest and thoroughly well-respected paleontologists, would be making his mark in scientific history.

The hall had been filling steadily for more than six hours. The Marshes had arrived late that afternoon for the celebration, along with Justin Marley, Nathan’s friend and fellow paleontologist. He was speaking to Sir Harold and several others, while Nathan stood in the distance, next to his draped display, watching for any sign of the great Richard Owen, the anatomist who, along with Prince Albert, had made this night happen for the good of England. Owen knew more about dinosaurs, the new breed of beasts, than anyone in the country.

Probably more than anyone alive. He would be arriving shortly for the unveiling, there to donate an unspecified amount of money to Nathan for the English Natural History Museum and Professor Price’s intended exhibit, of which his newly found jawbone would be the crowning part.

Mimi laughed softly at something Justin said, gently tossing a delicate, pale hand in the air. Of course Nathan was a good ten feet from her, and the milling scientists, socialites, statesmen, and wives blocked his view of her. Yet Nathan noted the protruding bones of her wrist and her tapered fingers, straightened his backbone for better observation when she tilted her head to one side, revealing an elegant throat free of jewelry, a shapely ear from which hung a dainty earring to match her dark blue gown.

He’d heard rumors that Mimi was as talented a sculptor as her father, but of course he had no idea if this was true, since he’d seen none of her work. She didn’t appear to have the hands of a sculptor, though he had no idea if a sculptor’s hands would look different from anyone else’s. Maybe he found himself suddenly intrigued by her because he’d always considered Mimi a child. Maybe she fascinated him now because he was a hunter of sorts by profession: it was in his blood.

Yes, he concluded, this surprising interest in Sir Harold’s daughter had to be simple, natural male instinct. A man attracted to a woman biologically.

She stood on the other side of his covered glass case, within an ever growing cluster of people ambling through the displays at this end of the Crystal Palace. Nathan had placed himself near the far glass wall, in part because he usually grew quiet in crowds, but also because standing among them was Carter Sinclair, an anatomist who frequently made Nathan’s anger rise with his unsound scientific pronouncements and arrogant nature. Carter didn’t like Nathan any more than was necessary, either, but they remained on cordial terms when the need arose. He smiled at Mimi, Nathan noticed, but it was a pleasant smile, not one of a man with any great interest in what she was actually saying.

But then Nathan understood that. Most women of his acquaintance weren’t all that interesting, either.

He placed his hand possessively on the velvet-covered glass beside him, fingering it thoughtfully. Inside lay notes, drawings, and his prize.

All his. A jawbone discovered and dug up by his own sweat-drenched body in an ancient rock bed in Oxfordshire last year. He’d worked for it, labored for it, cared for it. Nobody had seen it, either, aside from the few workers at the excavation site, but they weren’t noblemen or scientists of his caliber, so they were not, naturally, a part of this great exhibition at the Crystal Palace. He was the only one here tonight, the only one in London, who had seen this treasure of his, and everyone would be envious of his showing. In less than an hour the unveiling would reveal it to the world.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Professor.”

The softly spoken words came from behind him. Nathan pivoted around to see Mimi standing at his side, one corner of that pink mouth curved up, those enormous brown eyes sparkling at him.

He blinked, momentarily disconcerted by her surprising nearness, by the scent of spice in something she wore on her pale skin, then annoyed that he would let such frivolous things affect him. Straightening, he attempted to be charming.

“You’re looking… well, Miss Marsh.”

Her smile deepened but she didn’t comment on his rather standard attempt at polite conversation. Instead she turned to the case at his side.

“May I have a peek?”

“No, you may not.”

She nodded as if she expected this reply from him, lifting the fingers

of her left hand to glide them sensually across the top of the red velvet casing. But the smile never left her lips.

“I’ve heard you found a monster.”

He cocked his head to one side, studying her earrings as they glimmered from the bright gas lights. “You’ve heard correctly. Though it would be more accurate to call it an ancient lizard.”