The Reluctant Bride by Bretton Barbara

Author:Bretton, Barbara [Bretton, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Free Spirit Press
Published: 2015-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Her words were so simple and direct that Nicholas instantly regretted his comment. She had the most alarming ability to bring him up short. Each time he believed he understood what she was about, she managed to say or do something that touched his heart, despite his resolve to distance himself from her. He hadn't thought much about the hotel when he'd stayed there last week. Looking at it through Molly's eyes, he saw how magnificent a structure it truly was.

He offered his arm and, after a moment, she took it and together they walked into the lobby of the hotel. She gasped softly as they stepped onto a runner more beautiful than the Pemberton's finest carpet.

Not ten feet into the expanse of marble and gilt she stopped abruptly, her cheeks as red as the drapes that covered the windows. Her eyes strayed toward a knot of well-dressed men standing near the entrance.

"Is something wrong?"

"Not a thing," she said, head held high.

For the first time he noticed the muffled laughter from the swells. It took gargantuan effort on his part to keep from striding over to the buffoons and helping them to part company with their teeth. That would only serve to embarrass her more.

"Ignore them," he said briskly. "Tomorrow you'll purchase a new wardrobe."

"My inheritance...I turned it back over to Mr. Carruthers. I can't afford--"

"You're my wife," he said, ignoring the primal sense of possession inherent in that word. He would feel as much for a horse or a new coach. "Your wardrobe is my responsibility, not yours."

She said nothing. He had the feeling she wanted to protest, but there was little to be gained by airing their disagreement in the lobby. She wasn't greedy, he would grant her that. Most of the women of his acquaintance would have leaped at the chance to be married to a man with a title and an estate. While not in league with the very rich, Nicholas certainly had more money than Molly had ever dreamed of.

Yet she hadn't tricked him into marriage for his money; she had tricked him into marriage for her own.

An interesting difference, that. He wondered why he hadn't realized it before.

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