Sweet Piracy by Jennifer Blake

Author:Jennifer Blake
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: Steel Magnolia Press
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

6

DESPITE THE LATENESS of the hour, Caroline could not sleep. Her mind was filled with images of the things that had taken place during the evening. They haunted her, returning again and again no matter how hard she tried to shut them out. At last she gave up the battle and lay staring into the dark, listening to the steadily falling rain, trying to sort out her feelings. It was not an easy task. She had run the gamut from excitement through anger and resentment to fear. Poor Fletcher. He could not understand her. Small wonder; she could not understand herself. She found it difficult to forgive him for pouring out his grievance to Madame; still she could not hold a grudge. Her behavior must have seemed incomprehensible to a man who had every right to believe she was not indifferent to him. She had received him when he came to call, had made herself agreeable. Unless she was willfully blind, she must have seen the trend he was taking when he singled her out with his weekly visits. The trouble was, she had been blind. She had accepted his faithful attendance without a thought for the construction he might put upon it. That he could feel he had some claim upon her affections had never crossed her mind. Oh, she had toyed with the idea of marriage as an alliance of the only two English-speaking residents of the district. In truth, she suspected that was her greatest attraction for Fletcher. She had always known she must refuse such a cold-blooded arrangement. It was not in her character to do otherwise.

With M’sieur Philippe the situation was entirely different. Try as she might, she could find no reason to accuse herself of encouraging him. She had her suspicions as to the cause of his sudden passion. If she could prove them, she was certain she could put an even more effective end to his persecution of her than had been brought about already.

At the memory of the tutor’s undignified descent from the summerhouse, Caroline chuckled. He had been well served for going about pouncing on ladies in the dark. She wondered if his satin breeches had survived such Turkish treatment. If only she had been rescued by anyone other than Rochefort. What must he think of her! Not that it mattered, she told herself, flouncing over in bed and giving her pillow a fierce thump. She was by no means certain that the honorable Marquis would not have behaved in exactly the same manner given the chance.

What did he want of her? Since he had remained single this long, it was doubtful he intended to alter his state for the sake of an English governess. How did he see her? As fair prey, a female alone in the world for all practical purposes, without prospects, without protectors? Perhaps he thought she would be honored to grace his bed without benefit of clergy? No, more than likely he was indulging in nothing more than a mild flirtation to enliven his stay in the country.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.