The Lady Flees Her Lord by Ann Lethbridge

Author:Ann Lethbridge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Published: 2017-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The bone-melting heat of bliss slowly receded from Lucinda’s limbs. Steady breaths against her cheek. Another body’s warmth. Hugo. Wonderful, strong, gentle, compassionate Hugo. The man had given her a gift as precious as life, her womanhood.

She opened her eyes. Surrounded by royal blue bed hangings and secure in his arms, she desired nothing more than to snuggle closer and sleep away the day. Safe.

How safe would she be if he knew she was another man’s wife? If he discovered that the man he despised could snatch her back on a word? Lies for her protection felt like a millstone around her neck, dragging her into the depths of deceit against a man who had brought her such joy. A flood of shame chilled her to the bone.

She pushed back the sheet and rose on one elbow.

Hugo raised his head, his hand warm on her back. “Awake already, sweetheart?”

Dark hair tousled, his eyes half open, he looked sensual and handsome and good enough to eat. The urge to stay shocked her. “I must go home.”

A smug smile curved his lips. He looked younger, less careworn, almost boyish in his wickedness. “Move into the Grange. Then you won’t have to dash off.”

“Move in?”

“It would be more convenient.”

By allowing him to make love to her, she must have made him think she’d agreed to be his mistress. The thought of lying beside him night after night, free to kiss him, to bring him pleasure, sharing his bed and his life, was madly tempting. And completely out of the question.

In the throes of passion, she had not thought ahead. “No.”

His smile faded. Eyes wistful, he stroked her arm. “Was it something I did?” His teeth flashed white, and he leaned forward and nibbled her ear. “Or something I didn’t do . . . yet.”

Pure unadulterated lust shot straight to her core. She steeled against the urge to bury her face against his wall of chest, to let him fire those wonderful feelings banked within her all over again, to forget her responsibilities to Sophia, to her family, to herself.

“It has nothing to do with you.” She leaned over and pressed a swift kiss on his mouth. His arm encircled her shoulders. He deepened the kiss, and for one brief, ecstatic moment she melted into him, letting heat and the rising tide of passion claim her very soul.

The power he exerted over her body left her terrified. She shoved his shoulder and his hand fell away, just as he’d promised. “I do not think it is a good idea.”

A pang twisted in her heart at the hurt in his eyes.

He lifted her hand, bent his head, and kissed the inside of her wrist sweetly, gently. It felt like a promise. “Don’t decide now. Give it some time.”

Why could she not have met this man first? How could she deny him out of hand? The knowledge that she would never know this bliss of flesh and heart and mind again tore at her will. “I will give you my answer next Wednesday.

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