The Wedding Night They Never Had by Jackie Ashenden

Author:Jackie Ashenden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-06-03T13:16:46+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

INARA’S HEART WAS beating very fast. The awful, sick feeling in her stomach and the tightness in her chest that she’d felt in the ballroom had vanished, both feelings melting away as soon as Cassius’s arms came around her, holding her tight.

The evening had started awfully the moment Cassius had led her into the ballroom, and from there it had gone from awful to terrible, then to even worse. She hadn’t been able to remember anyone’s names, and her attempts at conversation had only prompted frowns, strange looks and judgmental stares. No one had been friendly. No one had smiled. Everything the etiquette people had taught her had gone completely out of her head and she’d felt paralyzed, certain that the moment she opened her mouth she’d only make it worse.

She hadn’t wanted to move, in case she’d tried to curtsey instead of shaking hands or stood accidentally on someone’s foot. Her eyes had been sore because the contact lenses were irritating, and her head had hurt because the pins in her hair were digging into her scalp. She wasn’t used to wearing the tall silver heels they’d given her to wear, either—they’d made her feel as if she were wearing a pair of stilts.

And through it all, his arm like iron beneath her fingertips, had moved Cassius. Tall and broad, as unreachable and untouchable as Mount Everest. She’d wanted to impress him so badly, yet every time she’d opened her mouth or taken a step she’d made some mistake. And he’d seen. He’d watched her fail, fail and fail.

Failing her parents was one thing, but failing him was quite another.

It cut her to the bone.

He’d lost his family, had had to pick up a duty he’d never asked for, and the least she could do for him was to give him a queen he could be proud of.

But then she’d knocked that woman’s elbow and wine had gone everywhere, splashing her beautiful dress and causing a scene. Reminding her of that garden party years ago, when she’d tried her best to catch the eye of the duke’s son, only to stammer and forget every rule of conversation the instant he’d spoken to her. She’d been so embarrassed that she’d run away.

Back then she’d been young, only sixteen, yet tonight she’d had no such excuse. She was now an adult and a queen, and she should have stayed in the ballroom and dealt with the mess she’d made, not bolted like a frightened rabbit.

In fact, she’d been on the point of mustering her courage to go back when Cassius had appeared. Everything in her had tightened as she’d braced herself for his judgment and then...it hadn’t come.

He’d seemed angry, coming over to where she’d sat on the cold stone bench, his gaze full of fire. But he hadn’t given her a tirade. Instead, he’d shocked her by draping his jacket around her shoulders then picking her straight up in his arms.

And it had come as another shock to realise that he was only angry with himself.

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