Seducing the Groom by Cheryl Holt

Author:Cheryl Holt [Holt, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Amazon: B00OZVOK56
Goodreads: 23341149
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THREE

Tormented and humiliated, Ellen froze as he flew down the stairs and out of the house. He banged the door hard enough to rattle the windows. It seemed as if all the air had suddenly left her body, and she slumped against the dressing table.

She was crushed, unable to understand how she’d misread him so terribly. As he’d peeked through the dressing room door that she’d deliberately left ajar, she’d been so sure she could coax him into a tryst. His assessment had been as hot and potent as she’d imagined he, himself, would be should she be clever enough to goad him past his idiotic, self-imposed restraint. But he hadn’t been enticed.

The beguiling night rail and robe she’d worn for her grand adventure hadn’t worked either. The outfit had been Alice’s idea. In matters of passion, Alice was an expert, so Ellen had concurred with her suggestion of attire.

Alice was a widow, her brief, blissful marriage having come to a sorrowful end after her seafaring husband’s mortal accident. Before they’d been betrothed, her spouse had been a randy fellow, vastly experienced from amorous flings in ports around the world, so the newlyweds had reveled in a bawdy, torrid physical relationship.

Alice was extensively versed in intimacy, having vivaciously mastered the techniques of marital duty about which Ellen had been totally unenlightened. Ellen was the older, spinster sister who had remained unwed simply because she was a romantic, searching for the man of her dreams. With very little prodding on Ellen’s part, Alice had graciously divulged the particulars.

Their devoted father was eminently conservative and had shielded them from life’s harsh lessons, protecting them from all dangers. His worst fears had been over the caliber of men who would eventually call on his daughters due to his accumulated wealth.

Ellen had been kept ignorant about many facets of living, and she was grateful that Alice had been kind enough to teach her, for though she’d agreed to Stephen’s absurd clamoring for a marriage of convenience, she wasn’t about to honor their arrangement.

This was love. This was war. And she intended to utilize every feminine wile in her immense arsenal to win his affection. How depressing to have blundered so utterly in the first battle.

Alice had avidly explained how Ellen was to incite him until he was overwhelmed by lust, until he was inclined to take her without regard to the consequences, but she hadn’t truly grasped what her sister had meant.

His menace and calculation had thrown her off balance, and his intensity was frightening.

She’d thought she knew more about Stephen St. John than just about any person on earth. Her decision to approach him with an offer of marriage hadn’t been hasty or imprudent. Her father had brought her to London for the sole purpose of finding an impoverished, desperate peer of the realm who was in need of an heiress.

The dream of being a titled lady hadn’t been her own, but her dear da’s, and it had been fueled during the forty years he’d resided in America.

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.