The Adventurous Bride by Miranda Jarrett

Author:Miranda Jarrett [Jarrett, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780733584855
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Later that evening, Mary sat beside her sister on their way from the château back to the town. The rocking of the coach along the Prince de Condé’s smoothly paved road, combined with the end of the long, warm day, put both Diana and Miss Wood soundly to sleep, the governess making genteel small snores with her mouth gaping half-open. But Mary was awake—wide awake—and so was John across from her.

He had tipped his hat over his forehead as if pretending to doze with the others, but Mary could see—no, feel—his eyes watching her beneath the cocked brim. It was as if they were alone together, but not quite, with the risk of her sister or Miss Wood waking adding a shiver of risk. She’d never been in such an unusual situation with a gentleman before.

And yet, because it was John, and because before they’d left the château, they’d been given not tea, but a wonderful white wine that had sparkled up her nose—because of that, she felt peculiarly daring, and not quite herself. Wasn’t this moment ripe to become part of her adventure? With one last glance at Miss Wood to be sure her eyes were closed, Mary pressed her lips and blew him a silent kiss.

He pushed his hat back from his face and smiled, such a slow, lazy, wicked smile that she blushed from her throat to the top of her forehead. Then, when he was sure that even in the gray light of the carriage there wasn’t a scrap of her face that wasn’t crimson, he winked.

She smiled back, and winked in return, even as she realized she’d have to do something more daring than a fluttery kiss. Her real quandary was, of course, that she wasn’t exactly sure what that might be. She glanced at Diana beside her, trying to think what her sister would do—or at least, what she would do that Mary, fortified with bubbly wine, might do as well.

She shifted against the seat, moving carefully so as not to wake Diana, and as she did, a stray beam of light from the coach’s outside lantern caught the toe of her slipper: green kidskin with a small shaped heel and a rosette that matched the cherry stripes of her polonaise.

But for now their most noteworthy quality was that they were easy to toe off. She kicked one shoe against the other and her right foot was soon free, bare except for her yellow lisle stocking. She slipped down a fraction lower on the seat, pointed her toe, and stretched out her stocking foot until it touched John’s leg below the knee of his breeches.

Abruptly his smile turned somehow darker, more seductive. He moved his leg against her foot, turning her touch into a caress, her silky light stockings rubbing over the coarser thread that covered his muscular calf. She caught her breath at the unexpected sensuality of it, but she didn’t pull away. This was France, not England. Any way that she touched him was part of her new adventure, and slowly she began to dawdle her toes along his leg.

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.