The Officer's Convenient Proposal by Joanna Johnson

Author:Joanna Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-04-27T18:09:36+00:00

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The sun was sitting high when they finally saw Marchfield in the distance and Jonah could have sighed with relief as they turned into the town’s main street. It had been the most confusing twenty-four hours of his life and he wanted nothing more than to find somewhere to sit alone and think, needing to unpack the series of events he hadn’t been able to stop wondering at for the whole long walk home.

She called me her friend, gave me that strange look—and then she kissed me, after swearing and declaring that would never happen again. So what in the nine circles of hell does that mean?

Snatching a glance over at Frances, he couldn’t resist lingering on her mouth, reliving the moment he’d been woken by the insistent pressure of those soft but determined lips. Still halfway between reality and dreaming, he’d responded with eagerness that made him grimace now he was fully awake...but even so he couldn’t quite manage to regret it. She was the most aggravating, contrary woman he’d ever met and yet somehow she was steadily burrowing beneath his skin, even coaxing out tales of his childhood he never would have shared with anyone else, and he chided himself now for revealing far too much.

She didn’t need to know all those details about Jane. You just wanted her to imagine you weren’t completely heartless—and perhaps come to see you as something more.

The truth was like a hornet’s sting and for the first time he felt a glimmer of doubt at the very edge of his grim certainty.

When the right moment came and everything fell into place...would he be able to bring himself to make the final move, the situation having turned out to be so different from what he’d predicted?

Too shaken by the stark thought, Jonah barely noticed the people walking past, more than one of them turning to stare at the admittedly eyebrow-raising sight of a dishevelled Frances leading her horse alongside the most handsome man in town. Any other time he might have realised her uncombed hair and slept-in dress were a scandalous giveaway that she’d been out all night, but instead he stared blindly ahead, his chest growing heavier with each step. For perhaps the first time in his life the strong, severe Lieutenant Grant was questioning his abilities, and he found he didn’t like the novel sensation one little bit.

Living together as man and wife would present the ultimate temptation—and torture. To see Frances every day while knowing her feelings for him were no deeper than those she held for her dog was a prospect that made him flinch, even as another part of him tried to deny the truth. Presented with such continuous reminders of her allure, his treacherous feelings could surely only grow, however—the very thing he’d been so resolved to avoid ever since the first time he’d laid eyes on her determined scowl. If not for Jane and the children he’d cut his losses and run, making sure to guard his battered heart from an attack the assailant wasn’t even aware they were waging.

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