One Golden Ring by Cheryl Bolen

Author:Cheryl Bolen
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2012-08-09T04:00:00+00:00

It was the bloody discomfort that woke Nick early the next morning. He had no notion of where he was— even after he awakened, which was understandable, given that he’d not yet familiarized himself with his new surroundings. As he came fully awake he realized he was folded in a deuced uncomfortable chair in the library of Menger House. He bolted up, every muscle in his body crying out in protest. “Bloody hell!” He had allowed himself to get so bosky he hadn’t even made it to bed.

Thank God he’d awakened on his own. He wouldn’t have liked for a servant to find him in this condition. He had no sympathy for those who overindulged, and he certainly would not expect his servants to respect a man who carried on in such a manner.

He was grateful, too, that Fiona had not found him like this.

Shoving a hand through his disheveled hair, he cursed, then painfully raised himself from the damned chair. He went first to his bedchamber. Would Fiona be there? Would she be worried? Angry with himself, he suddenly realized Fiona would not have been able to come down the stairs without someone carrying her in the sedan chair. He hoped to God she had gone to sleep before his tardiness caused her to miss him.

Stepping into his bedchamber, he was mildly disappointed not to find her there. The silken bed coverings that Ware had turned down the night before were undisturbed, the bedside candle completely burned down, like the fire in the ashen grate. Had she forgotten he wished them to sleep in his bed? Or had the headache that sent her to bed early caused her absence from his bed?

Good Lord! What if she’d been lying sick in her room all night, awaiting him? He tore off toward her chambers, fairly flying through the connecting dressing rooms and flinging open her chamber door.

She stirred, then came up from her mattress on one elbow to face him. “Nick!” Her eyes trailed over the dark shadow of beard on his face and over his mussed clothes. “You’re just coming in?”

He tensed for a moment. He disliked telling her the truth, afraid he would lose her respect. Yet he disliked lying more. What if one of the servants had seen him sprawled drunkenly in the library and that information got back to Fiona? “I’m ashamed to admit I spent the night in my library—after drinking too much.”

Her brows collapsed. “I thought you abhorred those who overindulge.”

He gave a disgusted grunt.

She patted the bed beside her.

Relief flooded him. She was not disgusted by him. He came to drop a kiss on her cheek, then sank onto the mattress beside her, breathing in her lavender scent. Her elegance in a skimpy nightshift never failed to heat his blood. As lovely as she was on their wedding day, she was ten times more beautiful within rumpled sheets, with rumpled hair, her milky flesh as smooth as satin.

“I was so worried about you,” she

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.