Kasey Michaels - A Reckless Beauty. by Kasey Michaels

Author:Kasey Michaels [Michaels, Kasey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-25T23:50:29+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THEY’D BEEN MARRIED for six hours, and Fanny had pointedly avoided Valentine for all of them, pleading the headache and spending the entire crossing belowdecks.

She’d hugged Lucille goodbye on the Dover docks, Wiggins traveling with Lady Whalley and her maid in order to hire a coach that would safely deliver them to the Brede mansion in Portland Square

in the fine style to which her brother’s fortune had accustomed her.

Valentine had been glad to see her go, nearly as pleased as his sister was to wave her farewells. Knowing Lucille, news of his impetuous marriage would be dinner table conversation all over Mayfair by the following evening, with Lucille the center of attention. She’d been positively giddy at the prospect.

And Fanny had been glad to see her go. Not that she didn’t enjoy Lucie, because she did. The woman could be quite amusing in her silly, selfish way. But Fanny wanted to be alone with Valentine. Her husband. She might try not to be happy that they were wed, attempt to concentrate only on her very real grief, but she couldn’t ignore the man beside her. She hadn’t been able to ignore anything about him ever since they’d first met.

“Lady wife,” Valentine said, extending his arm to Fanny as Lucille, chattering nineteen to the dozen with a friend she’d spied on the docks, walked away without so much as a final wave goodbye. “We can stay here in Dover, dine and return to the Pegasus tomorrow morning.”

Fanny looked up at him, attempting to gauge his mood. He’d called her his lady wife. Was he mocking her? Already regretting his decision?

“Or?” she asked as she slipped her arm through his, hoping he’d give her another option, as she wasn’t enamored of the idea of spending the night—her wedding night—at a Dover inn. As for the rest of it, she knew she was a bride, and what her groom would expect of her. She had weighed all of that when she’d decided on this course of action, and decided it was a small price to pay for her selfish safety.

A very small price, as she enjoyed Valentine’s kisses. Enjoyed them, longed for more, just as she longed for his smile, his touch. That was also selfish of her. She was a terrible person, with her beloved Rian dying even as her heart had been pulling her in two directions at once. Oh, her head ached. Her heart ached….

“Or we could continue directly on to Brede Manor, passing the night on the water. I would like to get the horses offloaded as quickly as possible. The Pegasus wasn’t really designed to carry horses.”

Fanny nodded, thinking of Molly and Shadow tied to the rear deck outside of the cabin, tucked inside a rude construction meant for Shadow alone and now forced to accommodate both horses.

“I think we should push on, if you don’t mind.” Then she smiled as a ridiculous thought struck her. She had absolutely no idea where they were going. “Where, precisely, is Brede Manor?”

“Not all that far from where you tell me Becket Hall is located, actually.

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