The Earl's Practical Marriage by Louise Allen

Author:Louise Allen [Allen, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-01-05T13:54:54+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

‘I saw stars.’ Laurel stirred as she lay in his arms, then opened pleasure-drugged dark brown eyes.

‘Is that a good thing?’ Giles managed to ask. He was shaking, he found. Shaking because he was racked with desire to take this to its conclusion, cursing himself for using Portuguese endearments, of all the clumsy mistakes to make. Laurel did not need it rubbing in that he had had lovers before, although she obviously knew.

He made himself relax, enjoying the feel of her as she snuggled closer, trusting him, secure in his arms.

She believes in me, he thought bleakly. Trusts me. How much would that hurt her if she knew why I offered for her? I should never have asked her to marry me. I should have thought of something, some way to make the money, some way to get the land back without this marriage.

And yet—how? His duty was to his father and to his name. The match he had offered Laurel was perfectly acceptable in the eyes of society, especially for a lady virtually on the shelf. Most reasonable people would say it was highly advantageous to her.

You are justifying yourself, his conscience nagged.

He had lied to her by omission by not telling her about the land sale and the debts. Giles pulled himself together with an effort. This was Laurel, his friend, the girl he had been estranged from for far too long, and now she was happy that they were together. She had accepted that this was not a love match, he was not deceiving her about that.

‘Giles?’ The sleepy contentment in her eyes had turned to puzzlement. He needed to keep alert because she could read him too well, even in a sensual haze. Laurel sat up, her hands on his chest, and frowned. ‘What is wrong?’

‘Guilty conscience,’ he admitted. Might as well tell the truth about something. ‘I should never have made love to you.’

And there I go with another half-truth.

‘Your stepmother is going to be furious that we sneaked off together and she will make your life miserable by nagging you about it, I have no doubt.’

‘I thought you were not happy because I had all the pleasure and you have had none.’ Laurel pushed away from him, her hands firm on his chest for a second. Giles looked down, remembering them scratched from blackberry picking, bruised from tree-climbing, muddy from fishing. Now they were the pampered hands of a lady, the lady he had tied himself to for life.

And she is tied to me, my ring will be on that finger soon enough.

‘I had my pleasure in seeing your pleasure, feeling it,’ he told her as he got to his feet and put his clothing in order.

And that at least is the truth.

It had been arousing watching Laurel come apart under his touch. There had been something more than that, although he could not put a name to the emotion.

‘Hmmm.’ She looked at him doubtfully, then smiled, a wicked twist of her lips. ‘I will have to make it up to you when we are married.

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