My Lady Innocent by Annie Burrows

Author:Annie Burrows
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Over the next two weeks, Maddy found herself spending more of each day dreaming of the pleasure Sir Geraint had shown her the night before, and anticipating the night to come.

The only cloud on her horizon was Lady Lacey’s persistently gloomy predictions for her future.

‘Once the novelty has worn off, and he’s taken you every way he can think of, or once you begin to grow cumbersome with a child, he’ll turn for amusement elsewhere, you mark my words! Then you will remember I tried to warn you,’ she said, when Maddy pulled back the curtains to get a glimpse of her husband on horseback.

But Maddy was too busy filling her eyes with the sight of him wrestling Caligula into submission to give her an answer. His skill with the beast reminded her so forcibly of the power he exerted over her own body. There was such strength in those great hands, though he tempered his strength with patience. When the muscles of his thighs bunched as he pressed his knees into the temperamental mount’s flanks, she could almost feel the texture of his crisp hair against her own, smoother skin.

‘Maddy!’ Lady Lacey leaned across her and snapped the curtain of the horse litter shut. ‘I hope you are not so foolish as to believe that the fact he is acting like a ravenous beast whenever he gets you alone means he cares about you.’

Maddy sighed, and reached for her prayer book. She had known from the start she ought to guard her heart against this man. But neither her own instinct for self-preservation, nor Lady Lacey’s dire warnings, could make any difference now.

She was already lost.

The very night before, she had been on the verge of confessing she would do anything for him, be anything he wanted her to be, if only he would love her a little. The only thing that had held her back had been the knowledge that, loathe as she was to admit it, her cousin was correct. The very way he had positioned her limbs, driving them both mindless with desire, had filled her with the certainty that while she had wished to begin speaking of what was in her heart, all he wanted was to indulge his body. And while she strained to catch glimpses of him during the day, his own attention was always fixed on the welfare of his retinue.

It was quite obvious that while he was fast becoming the focal point of her life, she was still only a means to an end, as far as he was concerned.

‘What in heaven?’ Lady Lacey remarked, as the litter lurched to a sudden stop. Outside, Maddy could hear the noise of feet pounding towards the back of the cavalcade. Leaning out of the now-stationary litter, she could see that one of the baggage carts had half-slipped off the edge of the road. The horses were straining, their hooves struggling to find purchase in the mud as the weight of the cart pulled them backwards and sideways.

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