The Reluctant Wife by Caroline Warfield

Author:Caroline Warfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2017-04-26T05:00:00+00:00

Fred slipped both hands up to Clare’s shoulders, pulled her close, and dove forward for a quick kiss, a chaste enough salute, one that left him wanting more.

That should keep the biddies busy for a week, the remaining sane part of his brain told him. He leaned in for another that threatened to deepen before he took a step back, held her at arm’s length, and dropped his hands to put more distance between them while he still could. Distance proved difficult.

“I’m glad I suggested a sea voyage for our honeymoon,” he said out loud, disconcerted by the huskiness in his voice. A scuffle assured him of their observers’ departure.

Clare ran a shaking hand over her lips. That and the memory of her breasts pressed against his shirt almost finished him. A creative man would find a way to get her alone in some private cranny of this vessel.

An honorable man would keep his distance. Fred knew he could be creative; he would have to work harder at keeping his distance. Clare deserved better than being dragged under a tarp.

Two cabins had been easy enough to explain to the agent when he booked their passage. A married couple needed privacy from children after all. He didn’t count on them being so close to one another. Lying in his bunk every night and listening to her moving around across the hall drove him mad.

“Meghal needs me,” he said over the thickness in his throat. “I best get back up on the bridge before she wears out the first mate.”

Clare nodded, her heightened color the only sign his kiss had affected her.

Walking away, he searched for ways a man could avoid the woman he wanted when trapped in the confines of a ship. I’ll join the bachelors in the saloon for cards at night when she sleeps, like I should have done from the beginning. When she prowls the ship, I’ll roll over and sleep. This cozy family business has to stop.

He approached the bridge, and two formidable matrons paraded past him, eyeing him avidly. The entire marriage ruse, concocted on the spur of the moment to quiet a fussy shipping clerk, now seemed like one of his worst ideas.

He didn’t count on the ship being full of gossips. They had been very lucky that none of them so far seemed to know his family or the Armbrusters. If Catherine or the earl gets wind of this “marriage,” they will demand to pull Clare into the bosom of family. What will she do then? The thought of Clare Armbruster setting his formidable sister straight tickled him into good spirits. He hoped that with luck they could disembark at Southampton and travel north with neither their fellow passengers nor their families the wiser.

When he trudged up the stairs, however, he came face to face with the weakness in his plan.

“Papa! Look at this chart,” Meghal called.

The first mate shook his head with a grin. “She’s something, Mr. Wheatly. The navy could use one like this.

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