Groom Of Fortune by Peggy Moreland

Author:Peggy Moreland [Moreland, Peggy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He groaned as her fingers dug deeply into tensed muscles.

"Does that feel good?" she quizzed, pausing to peer at him over his shoulder.

"Don't stop," he begged pitifully.

She laughed and resumed her massage. "My brothers swear I have magic fingers."

"Wise men, your brothers."

"Yes, they are." She leaned to peer at him again but continued her massage. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

He tensed, then forced his muscles to relax. "No." It wasn't a lie, he told himself. He didn't have any full-blood brothers. Only one stepbrother, whom he'd never claimed relationship to, anyway.

"That's sad," she murmured sympathetically. "I can't imagine my life without my brothers." She laughed then and leaned to whisper at his ear. "Promise me you'll never tell them I said that."

He angled his head slightly, frowning. "Why?"

"Because I've spent a great deal of time and effort trying to convince them that they are a royal pain in the you-know-what."

"Why?"

"Because they're too protective." She shifted her legs more comfortably around him and moved her fingers to cup his neck. "It's like having three fathers," she said, kneading at the tendons there. "Bossing me around and checking up on me."

"They do it because they care."

"Yes," she agreed readily. "But it's infuriating having them hover all the time. You can't imagine what it's like to be treated as if you're a glass doll. Protected and guarded as if you'd break at the slightest jarring."

Because he felt the need to treat her similarly, and because he feared he'd never have the chance to do so once they left the cabin, Link remained silent.

"I was never allowed to do anything that other girls my age were allowed to do," she continued. "No overnights. No extracurricular activities. No shopping sprees at the mall. Unless I was accompanied by one of my brothers, of course," she added, then snorted indelicately. "Imagine shopping for personal items with your brothers along. How embarrassing! And frustrating, too. They were always pressing me to hurry, rolling their eyes when I'd dare ask their opinion on a particular style or color." She chuckled and leaned close to his ear again. "Sometimes I would purposely hold up something really risqué just to make them blush."

Link frowned as she began to knead his neck again, realizing for the first time how truly sheltered her life must have been. "What was it like when you were away?" he asked curiously. "Back east at that boarding school and in Europe?"

"The same. Only my brothers weren't there hovering. It was usually some other family member, or a teacher that my father employed to watch over me. While in Europe, it was a trusted friend of the family. I've never truly been on my own. Ever."

He absorbed that slowly, knowing the reason why. The kidnapping. Reason enough to want to shelter her. Protect her.

He caught her hand in his and tugged it down his chest, drawing her face next to his. "And what would you do you if you had the freedom to do anything you wanted?" He glanced over at her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.