The Scoundrel and the Debutante by London Julia

Author:London, Julia [London, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2015-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MORNING DID COME, and much too fast for Prudence. She and Roan lay in each other’s arms, exploring each other’s bodies and making love into the morning hours. She’d slept fitfully and awoke when the sun began to spill in through the small window of their room. She groaned, wrinkling her nose. What was that smell?

Ah, yes. The chicken and wine.

She lifted Roan’s arm from her belly and rolled over, into his chest. He lay on his side beside her, his eyes closed, his breathing deep. She kissed his chest twice and sat up.

He had opened one eye and was watching her. “You’re insatiable,” he said, and raked his fingers through her tangled hair.

“I think perhaps I am,” she said, as the thought occurred to her.

She shifted and kissed his lips, then rolled over and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She had been initiated into a beautiful, lovely, tender private world these past two days and she was loath to leave it. But leave she must. Prudence felt remarkably clearheaded about it. She had to return to her life. Roan had to find his sister and return to his promises, and a family who needed him.

Clearheaded, perhaps, but it hurt her heart too much to feel him in her again, and she stood up, afraid that he would touch her and her resolve would crumble. It felt as if the slightest breeze would crush her, and she’d end up begging him to stay, like a poor relation. Like a ward. Like someone with no hope.

Prudence pulled a linen sheet around her. She was quite sore, really, but it was a delicious soreness, something she savored. Every movement reminded her of the magic she’d discovered in his arms.

She moved to her trunk and picked up the dark green day gown with the brown trim.

She heard Roan behind her, rising from the bed. She heard water splashing at the basin, then his rummaging about for the things he needed. She busied herself at her trunk so that he would not see the tears that burned behind her eyes, a peculiar mix of both happiness and sick regret.

Was it possible to fall in love with someone so quickly? Was it possible to find someone so completely compatible by mere chance? How could she ever think of another man with the impression of Roan’s hands on her body? How could she ever look at another pair of eyes and not see the golden topaz of his? How would she live the rest of her tedious life, knowing that her heart was somewhere on the other side of the ocean?

It would be her secret burden to bear, the thing she carried with her always. Prudence could picture herself at family dinners, her heart aching as everyone laughed around her. When matches were made, when babies were born, when Christmases were celebrated, and her sisters gathered their loved ones around them Prudence would think of Roan.

It was unfair, so terribly unfair. And yet, it was.

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