Harlequin Historical February 2018--Box Set 1 of 2 by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488087462
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

‘Clare,’ he said, laying one hand tentatively on her shoulder. ‘I…that is…there was no need for me to have been so brusque with you just now.’

She turned to face him and lifted her chin. ‘Well, I should not have…flung myself at you in the street like that, should I? I am not surprised you lost your temper with me. I know I am not the wife you would have chosen, but I do want to be the best wife I can be and, if you do not like me to—’

He couldn’t stand there letting her try to shoulder the blame when absolutely nothing that had happened was in any way her fault. But nor was he ready to explain that she was the one who’d been forced into a marriage she hadn’t wanted, not him. So he took the simple expedient of stopping her mouth with a kiss.

She gasped, but then melted into his embrace. Though she didn’t respond with the kind of eagerness he’d become used to. She didn’t put her arms round him, for a start. Because his reaction to her hugging him had made her think he didn’t want her to. And she was trying to be the best wife she could be. Because she was that kind of girl. Giving and brave, and loyal to those she believed deserved her loyalty. He only had to think of how loyal she’d been to her selfish father and spendthrift brothers. Their father’s income had nearly all gone on providing them with an education, while he knew for a fact she didn’t even have a dowry worth mentioning. And even though they now all had decent livelihoods, not one of them had come to her aid when she’d needed it, apart from Clement. And all he’d done was arrange for the kind of post that only a truly indigent female should have to endure. Yet not one word had she ever said against them. Even when he’d caught her travelling on the public stage, in a coat she’d clearly dyed herself because they hadn’t given her the funds to obtain decent mourning garments.

She wouldn’t ever utter a word of complaint against him, either, no matter what he did. It would go against the grain.

‘Clare,’ he murmured ruefully, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers. ‘What am I to do with you?’ He’d tried to prevent her from falling in love with him. Because he hadn’t wanted her to give him her heart. He didn’t deserve it. And he’d only break it when she found out what he was doing with her. He hadn’t wanted to live with that on his conscience.

But that hug, just now, told him that she might already be starting to think she was falling in love with him. She wasn’t one to do anything in a half-hearted fashion. Many women imagined themselves in love with a man once she’d gone to bed with him. Besides which Clare had such strong religious

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