A Husband for Mary by Heather Boyd

Author:Heather Boyd [Boyd, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-925239-44-7
Publisher: Heather Boyd

Chapter 5

Daybreak only worsened Mary’s impending sense of doom. She’d kissed Ellis Worth. Kissed him, touched him, pressed her bare body to his and proved herself a woman of low and utterly alarming morals. Ellis had pretty much dubbed her the female equivalent of a rake, and he might be right. That he’d not finished the job of ensuring her ruin was gratifying and yet unsettling.

She punched her pillow. For a rake, Ellis was not living up to his reputation for seduction.

Oh, his kisses had been very fine.

More than fine.

Mary pressed her pillow to her face and growled her frustration into the feathers.

He was exceptionally good at kissing, and other things. Things he’d not wanted to continue once he’d discovered her real identity. It was so very lowering to be cast aside so swiftly because of who she was and not because of how she felt in his arms.

She flipped over to her back but turned her head toward the window to watch the bright day begin. Ellis was Douglas’s best friend. They saw each other practically every day. Ellis would come to call on Douglas, not her, and she’d be forced to watch him from afar, knowing what lay beneath his clothes and that she’d fooled herself into thinking him the love of her life for a very brief time last night.

What sane woman could love a rake?

Her breath caught. Mary might have if given a chance.

It might amuse others to imagine bringing such a man to his knees and hearing a sweet proposal tumble from his lips, but Ellis Worth was the last person to ever consider falling in love. Certainly not with her, and never now that he’d seen her true colors.

Last night had been all her fault.

She had tried to seduce him, she’d led him on, absolutely kissed him first. She could not deny his accusations because they cut so very close to the bone. Everything he’d claimed about her behavior was utterly true. For a supposedly virtuous woman, she was decidedly not when faced with the temptation of his powerful and naked body.

He was beautiful. Arousing. Desirable.

Oh, she was utterly ruined now. Mary pulled her pillow over her head as her face burned with the heat of a blush, remembering how he’d made her feel him with her hand. She would not be able to look at him now without remembering how much she had wanted to experience his love and desire. It had almost hurt to draw back from the brink.

Tap, tap, tap.

Mary sprung up at the knocks on her door, brushing her hair from her face and then clutching her pillow for scant reassurance. “I’m awake.”

Her mother hurried in, wearing her nightgown and lacy cap still perched on her head. “Oh good. You must get up. There is a caller.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Worth has come.”

“Worth always comes on Tuesdays,” she said in what she hoped was a disinterested tone, although a dull roar had filled her ears at the mention of his name. Fear and excitement affected her.

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