Elizabeth, The Enchantress by Lavinia Kent

Author:Lavinia Kent
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2011-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

She looked very nice. Were those not warm words to hear from one’s husband? Next he’d tell her she was passably pretty or didn’t look too bad. Her cousins had said that on more than one occasion. Lizzy, you don’t look as bad as I thought you would. The words still burned in her mind.

She straightened her shoulders, held her head high. She didn’t care what he thought. She was glad she’d held back her exclamation about how wonderful he looked in his evening coat, how it emphasized the breadth of his shoulders and made her long to touch them, to see if they could possibly be that broad or if the tailor had added some padding.

And his thighs. She’d often heard other woman remark on a strong leg and well-turned calf, but never until she’d seen the power of movement in William’s thighs had she understood. His tight trousers showed every line of definition as he moved. She could picture him naked, each muscle standing out clearly.

Knowing that her cheeks were marked with high color, she turned away.

“Yes, we will travel together—if you do not mind?” His voice was gruff.

Had she displeased him in some way? Her mind filled with how he’d turned her away four years ago. He had not found her desirable then and clearly found her even less so now. Then she’d had youth on her side. Now she only had . . . . She didn’t even know what she had.

“That would be acceptable.” There, that was an appropriate answer, not betraying how deeply she really felt.

He nodded and held out his arm.

She wrapped her fingers about it, wishing that she could not feel the heat of his body even through his jacket and her own gloves. The man must burn like a coal oven.

Thinking of the huge plate she’d seen him demolish at breakfast it seemed like an apt description. A coal oven that needed a lot of fuel. No wonder he always moved with such energy, such unrepressed action. Maybe he had needed to go off and see the world simply to find some way to expend that great life force.

Now she was just being fanciful. He’d gone because he wanted to and for no other reason. She might have come to believe that he truly hadn’t gone because of her, but then neither had he stayed because of her.

Their feet tapped lightly down the steps and walk. The carriage, his crest painted on the door, stood waiting. Holding her skirts high, she stepped in. He followed, but hesitated, trying to decide where to sit.

Finally, his long legs spreading, he sat across from her. A carriage had never felt so small.

“Do you know we’ve never actually been in a carriage together before?” She had to say something, unwilling to sit in awkward silence.

“Really? We must have.”

“No. Even after the wedding you went on ahead. I am not quite sure why, but I do remember there was a reason, something that made it only slightly odd.

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