His Contract Bride by Rose Gordon

Author:Rose Gordon [Gordon, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1478295155
Amazon: B008G0E1OW
Publisher: Night Shift Publishing
Published: 2012-06-27T21:00:00+00:00

~Chapter Seventeen~

Regina trounced Edward at tennis, just like he'd hoped she would. Best yet, he hadn't even had to purposely lose, which was good. It would do her good to know she was better than he was at something.

Sure, she could flawlessly do many things young ladies were expected to do, but she had no pride about it. Besting him in tennis—a real game, not one which depended on twisting a knob—would hopefully give her the pride in herself that she deserved.

“Well done, Regina,” he congratulated, handing her the white handkerchief from his breast pocket.

She dabbed the sweat off her flushed face. “Thank you. You played admirably, too.”

He scoffed. “Did I ever tell you that falsehoods make me unwell?” The words were out before he could stop them. He held his breath, waiting for the tongue lashing he deserved.

“You poor man,” she said, cocking her head to the side and bringing her hand to almost rest on his shoulder before withdrawing it. “You must have been nearing death by the time I found that contract.”

He exhaled, shame washing over him. “I never meant—”

“For me to find out.”

“That's not what I was going to say.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “Are you feeling ill now?” She gestured to a nearby chair. “Perhaps you ought to sit.”

“Why would I feel ill now?”

“Because you just told another falsehood.”

“What the devil?” he muttered.

“Surely, you were not about to attempt to convince me that you didn't mean to lie to me in the first place. That would be the only logical choice available to you now since you're adamant that it wasn't my finding out that was what you were trying to avoid.”

Damned if she didn't have a way of turning things around on him. “I suppose, I'm feeling unwell, after all.” He blew out a deep breath then gestured to the empty chairs. “It was both,” he said after they'd both taken their seats. “Only an imbecile wouldn't mind if his wife were to find such a damning document.”

“Unless he thought she was the imbecile.”

The way she whispered her retort ate at him. “No. I never doubted your intelligence.”

“Then why did you lie to me? Why did you let me make a fool of myself and—and—and—” She turned her face away. “Edward, my father tricked me. He told me you'd requested my hand, and just like he'd wanted me to, I believed him.” She dropped her gaze to where she was making lazy patterns with the tip of her toe in the dirt. “You could have told me the truth. As soon as you knew I had been misled, you could have told me the truth.”

Edward ached to wrap his arms around her. Everything he'd done to try to protect her had only caused her more pain. “I was afraid of hurting you.”

“But you hurt me more by keeping the truth from me.”

“I know that now,” he whispered. “I didn't know it then.”

“Yes, well, it doesn't matter now.”

“Yes, it does,” he countered, throwing his good sense to the wind and using his fingertips to turn her face toward him.

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