Tales of Forbidden Love (A Collection of Forbidden Romances, Previously Published) by Alexandra Benedict

Author:Alexandra Benedict
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: anthology, historical romance, forbidden, forbidden love, young adult romance, forbidden romance, romance anthology
Publisher: Alexandra Benedict

CHAPTER FOUR

Emily slowly opened her eyes and looked through the window at the grey morning light. She smiled as her hazy vision cleared and hugged the crisp white pillow. How she loved to sleep and dream. But Papa would expect her for breakfast so she sighed and pushed off the comfortable bed.

Her chemise, twisted around her legs, fluttered to the ground. She walked over to the large window, almost as tall as herself, and gazed out at the industrious city, every rooftop piping smoke. Her hands went to her arms and she rubbed them, shrinking the gooseflesh, wondering where she had left her robe.

As she turned around, she noticed a figure in a chair and started. The man was slouched in the seat, his shirt half opened, his unruly locks tousled across his brow. Dark eyes watched her with sharp focus, and her smile faded away.

“Rees.”

Her world turned on its ear and she remembered everything—that Papa was not waiting for her in the morning room, that Papa was dead, and Rees now owned her.

“It’s almost noon,” he said in a tempered voice, his features inscrutable.

Since boyhood, he had guarded his heart from her. It was only when he played the violin he unleashed his true feelings. He couldn’t contain them, then. But there was no instrument between them now, and she couldn’t imagine his thoughts.

Her heartbeat quickened. “Is it noon? I can never tell when I’m in Town. It’s always so grey.”

“Did you sleep well?”

She glanced at the bed and the rumpled sheets, then back at him. He had stayed in the chair all night and let her sleep and sleep and sleep. Had he watched her dream the entire time?

“I did,” she returned, flustered.

She wasn’t sure why she had slumbered so well, not when her circumstances hadn’t improved. She had hoped to take refuge with an unknown gentleman, but Rees was her pan, her fairytale musician, her greatest secret. And deepest regret. How she’d managed to sleep a wink was a wonder, and she could only assume exhaustion was the cause.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Famished.”

Her hands ached, too, and she flexed her fingers.

Rees suddenly lifted from the chair and approached her. Where there had once been a rough tenderness in his manner, there was now a virile, even predatory charge in the air. And she was the prey.

She stepped back, heart racing, and bumped into the window.

He stilled.

She had never shied away from him in the past, but so much had changed—he had changed—and she could only guess his intentions toward her, all of them unpleasant.

After an indecisive moment, he advanced again until his six foot frame loomed over her. He reached for her wrists and pulled them down. Her fingers splayed, revealing blisters.

“You haven’t played for a long time.”

He held her firmly, his thumbs pressing over her frantic pulses, and she shivered at the shift in his voice, more gravelly.

She corrected, “I haven’t played for so long a time.”

She had played for more than two hours last night before he’d cut her off and ordered her to bed.

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