Letters at Christmas (Entangled Scandalous) by Lin Amber

Author:Lin, Amber [Lin, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance, England, Entangled Scandalous, brother's best friend, Regency, Amber Lin, christmas
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2014-07-07T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Two years now since I’ve seen you, held you. I miss you. Sometimes, when I am sleep deprived, and mildly drunk, I wonder if you are a hallucination, a mirage that will fade when I search for you. If this is true, I hope never to wake up.

Hale watched as Sidony linked arms with Catherine and went inside. He watched her brilliant smile and pink, chaffed cheeks. Joy, he thought. And comfort. Comfort—the sweet warmth of her body; and joy—the bright expanse of her heart. Or maybe it was the other way around, with the comfort he found in her nearness and the incandescent joy he found in her passion. He couldn’t decide, quite. It didn’t matter this Christmas. She was no longer theoretical, no longer an idea, a hope. She was here. So was he.

Too late, he noticed Geoffrey beside him with a curious expression.

“Are you all right?” his friend asked.

Hale forced a smile. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Geoffrey shrugged. “You’ve been gone a long time. Only natural if you needed time to adjust.”

Time to adjust? Hale was damn eager to resume his relationship with Sidony exactly where they’d left off. In love, ready to marry. Only the money had stopped him then, and he had that now. No, he didn’t need time; Sidony did. His stomach clenched with the knowledge. She needed time to forgive him, to trust him again. Had he pushed her too far, too fast? Maybe. And now he could lose everything.

“I’m sure everything will be fine,” he said, his voice coming out a bit hoarsely. If only he could believe that. He did believe that, because if he didn’t, he would no longer have a damn thing to work for. What use was a fortune sitting in a bank in London without a wife to support with it? Not just any wife. He wanted Sidony. It had always been her. Only her.

They passed the horses off to the groom and met the women inside. Steaming mugs of cocoa waited for them, and he gratefully accepted one, carrying it to the window. He knew they were all watching him. Worried about him. Well, he was worried too.

And feeling guilty. He’d treated the proposal cavalierly to hide his fear that she’d refuse him. But Sidony deserved better than that.

When Catherine and Geoffrey began to play a card game, Sidony joined him by the window. She kept her distance with the others nearby, but he could still feel her heat. Her anxious gaze seared him. He’d done that, when he’d sworn never to do that. Not again.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

Is everything all right? Are you all right? This was his lover, his best friend. He’d hated leaving her. Now he wasn’t even sure how he’d done it. It would be like cutting off his own arm, to leave again.

“Sidony, you know I care about you, too.” The words poured out of him, low and urgent. Inappropriate only a few feet away from her brother, but he couldn’t have stopped them.

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