Fiona and the Enigmatic Earl by Grace Callaway

Author:Grace Callaway [Callaway, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939537713
Publisher: Grace Callaway Books

Fiona felt Hawk’s arms close around her. He lifted her as if she weighed less than a feather, carrying her to her sitting room. He settled her firmly on his thighs and wiped her wet cheeks with a handkerchief. She didn’t have the wherewithal to stop any of it. She was overwhelmed—distraught, angry, heartsick…she couldn’t name everything she’d kept bottled up inside.

At the ball, she’d thought about finding Livy and Glory and telling them what she’d overheard. Yet the idea of sharing Hawk’s intimate dealings had made her feel nauseous. She didn’t even want to think about him with Melinda Ayles, let alone tell her bosom friends that the other woman had turned him away for being a “glutton.”

Fiona felt humiliated and crushed. While she knew her marriage was one of convenience, she’d believed that her physical connection with Hawk was…unique. That they were building something special. Yet, apparently, he was randy and intense with all women. Although she tried to tell herself that what went on before their marriage didn’t matter, she couldn’t stop despair from spreading.

Hawk thought you were a frivolous and temperamental flirt, a voice inside her whispered. He only proposed because you leapt into that alleyway, and he feels responsible for compromising you. And you willfully used the situation to maneuver him into a marriage of convenience. If not for his honor, Hawk would never have married you. He has no emotional attachment to you. You are just a convenient bed partner and a way for him to fulfill his duty.

Self-doubt attacked like a pack of ravening wolves. She couldn’t defend herself from her spiraling thoughts. She felt desperate and out of control, and she didn’t like it.

She pushed him away, burying her face in her hands. “Just leave me alone.”

“I will not. Not until you clarify what you just said.”

“You said you didn’t like emotional outbursts.” She lowered her hands to glower at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am having one now.”

“Carry on,” he said.

His calmness annoyed her. How could he be so dashed controlled when she was coming apart at the seams?

“There will be weeping, raging, and likely name-calling involved,” she warned.

He raised his brows. “Will you be calling me names?”

“Quite possibly.”

“Noted. Now, you were claiming that I treated you and Lady Ayles in the same fashion,” he said with equanimity.

He wants the truth? she thought darkly. I’ll give it to him.

“Lady Ayles said that you do not believe in love,” she stated. “That you told her you were not interested in emotional entanglements. Which is the same thing you told me when you proposed.”

“Go on.”

“Then she said that after the two of you made love, you never stayed the night. Also a habit of yours that I am familiar with.”

Hawk cocked his head. “Do you want me to?”

“Want you to what?”

“Stay the night.”

Caught off guard, she said stiffly, “That is hardly the point.”

“On the contrary. You are angry because you believe I treated you and my ex-mistress in the same fashion. The logical conclusion would be that you wish to be treated differently.

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