When the Scoundrel Sins by Harrington Anna

Author:Harrington, Anna
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2017-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

With a groan of exertion, Quinn lifted the heavy stone from the ground and set it into place on the pasture wall, then straightened and ran his forearm across his brow to wipe away the stinging sweat dripping into his eyes.

“That one nearly did ye in, eh?” Angus Burns teased beside him as he set his own rock into place.

Quinn answered with a strained grimace, panting to catch his breath.

Burns slapped him good-naturedly on his back with a grin. “Only twenty more t’ go!”

He glanced at the break in the stone wall, the same gap he and Angus had already spent most of the day attempting to close, and cursed beneath his breath at the size of the breach left to fill.

Burns laughed and reached for a smaller stone to plug a tiny hole.

The cool morning had given way to a warm afternoon, with bright sunshine flooding across the pasturelands and the blue mountains on the horizon. It was a beautiful day, and Quinn had barely noticed any of it. His mind was on the same place it’d been since the evening he arrived and found that the Bluebell had grown into a capable woman, with a kind heart, full curves, and quiet dedication. One he couldn’t seem to stop worrying about. Or keep from kissing whenever they were alone.

Kissing? He rolled his eyes. He’d done a helluva lot more than that.

Which was why he was out here in the fields with Angus Burns this afternoon, breaking his back mending walls, instead of inside the house with Robert, interviewing potential suitors. The last thing he wanted to do was find Belle a husband. Which was also why he’d marched straight back to the house after leaving her at the pond to swallow his pride and scratch out a letter to Sebastian, asking his brother to loan him the money necessary to purchase Glenarvon from the Church, should Bartleby not discover another viable loophole.

And after that morning’s encounter at the pond, he also needed to expel the frustration of being able to touch her and hear her throaty cry of pleasure, yet not be able to share in that release.

God’s mercy, she’d made his blood boil. So hot, in fact, that he’d very nearly carried her from the pond in his arms, placed her on the grassy bank, and taken her right there. Cold water be damned.

He grabbed up another stone and slammed it into position. What had stopped him from doing exactly that—the only thing—was that he would be obligated to marry her if he took her innocence. That’s what well-bred gentlemen did when they ruined ladies like Belle. Even a scoundrel like himself couldn’t escape that. And the last thing he wanted was marriage, knowing the grief that would eventually accompany it.

Nor was he willing to turn his back on the promises he’d made to his father and Asa Jeffers, which was exactly what he would have to do then. Because there would be no marriage of convenience, as Belle had proposed.

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