Daniel's True Desire by Burrowes Grace

Author:Burrowes, Grace [Burrowes, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2015-11-02T08:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

“Stop that.” Olivia accompanied her command with a stout shove to Bertrand’s shoulder.

He left off nuzzling her ear, rolled to his back, and stared at the ceiling. The nearest corner of the room sported a few cobwebs swaying on gossamer currents from the cracked window.

“For a dead woman, you’ve become mighty contrary, Livvie dearest.”

She snatched a handkerchief from the bedside table and scrubbed at her belly. “Don’t call me that.” She pitched the handkerchief onto Bertrand’s chest. “Tend to yourself. At least Daniel was tidy and limited his base behaviors to after dark.”

Bertrand was supposed to get out of the bed now, grateful to have been allowed to come on Olivia’s belly after a few minutes of more intimate congress. The housemaid allowed him that much and was a good deal more cheerful about it.

He tossed aside the soiled handkerchief and got off the bed, fetching his own clean square of linen from his coat pocket.

“Olivia, it’s only been a few weeks since I wrote to Banks of your supposed death. I warned you your scheme might take years.”

“You don’t know Daniel,” she said, drawing the sheets up and subsiding onto the pillows. “He’s handsome, has fine manners, and is a vicar. Vicars need wives, and Daniel never quite mastered his animal spirits, not that I allowed any of his nonsense once he thrust that child on me.”

Bertrand climbed back onto the bed, mostly to annoy his ladylove. “Even if Banks remarries posthaste, what says his wealthy relation will give him the money you demand?”

“The children,” Olivia retorted, flopping over to her side. “That wretched boy Danny, for starters, and whatever children the viscount and his lady will produce to ensure the succession of Fairly’s title. Bigamy is still a hanging felony, Bertrand. Nobody needs a relation found guilty of bigamy, least of all a family already familiar with scandal.”

Bertrand watched the cobwebs flutter and absently stroked his flaccid member. Olivia had great faith in this plan of hers: wait until Banks was on the verge of remarrying, then extort an enormous sum from him in exchange for Olivia’s willingness to remain “dead.” Everyone could move on with their lives, free of scandal and old entanglements.

Banks would be a fool to trust Olivia’s word. She’d remain silent until her new dresses no longer pleased her, if that long, then she’d have her hand out again, or into the poor vicar’s pocket.

Though the poor vicar had acquired wealthy relations—most unwise of him.

“Should I be concerned that I’m sharing a bed with a woman who will exploit children?” Bertrand asked, caressing Olivia’s increasingly well-rounded fundament.

Olivia swatted his hand hard enough to sting. “My father didn’t hesitate to exploit me, did he? I was his drudge for years, trying to make do on farthings with hardly a decent dress to show for it. He gambled away what little Mama left me, and of course, nobody will offer for a village girl who has no dowry. Lord Fairly is rumored to be obscenely wealthy, and Daniel owes me for raising a boy conceived in sin.

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