Almost Persuaded: Miss Mary King Read Online Free PDF Page B

life, educated alongside Darcy
and destined for a living that would have satisfied my every notion
of happiness. I should be happy marrying for love with little
regard for fortune, but gentlemen of my circumstances do not often
enjoy the prospect of marrying where they will. I was robbed of
such a prospect. I must marry a woman of fortune.
    How it warmed
her spirits and excited her hopes to suppose an alliance with her
afforded him the means of satisfying his heart as well as his
purse.
    The door-bell sounded, rousing her. The idea of its being
Mr. Wickham fluttered her spirits. Surely he would never come around at such
an hour as this. She sat and waited and wondered. Were it to be the
gentleman, then surely it would exceed the bounds of propriety to
receive him with her father being away from the house and no one
there with her, save the servants.
    Mary’s
curiosity was soon satisfied, her spirits gratified, and her
reservations tossed aside when a servant showed Mr. Wickham into
the room. After bowing to Mary, he remained by the entryway, his
back to her as he uttered a few words to the footman and then
graciously closed the door in the servant’s stead.
    In two strides
he stood before her, and she rose to receive him. “Mr. Wickham, I
had not expected to see you again so soon after our meeting this
morning.”
    He accepted
her hand and imparted a moist kiss on her palm. “Pray you do not
regard my calling on you at this hour as rash. I wanted to see
you—nay, needed to see you.”
    Her knees nearly buckled. “Sir, did you forget my father is
out this evening?” Surely he recalls my having told him Papa frequents the pub
every Tuesday night.
    “Again, I will request your leniency. I am aware your
father is away and that he will be gone for several hours. I so enjoy
our time together, but I do not suppose myself to be your father’s
favourite.”
    “Has he spoken
to you in that regard?”
    “Let us say he
has made his plans for your future clear to me—that as soon as the
mourning period is ended, he should like nothing more than to
announce your betrothal to your cousin in Liverpool.”
    Mary dropped her eyes. How could my papa do such a thing? Not knowing where
to look, she walked to the bookshelves. “Sir, I am sorry Papa has
given you the impression I am to be married to another. It is not
true. It is nothing more than his own ardent wish as well as my
uncle’s. I have no idea how my cousin feels about all
this.”
    Mary’s heart slammed against her chest from the touch of
his hand along her waist. He was standing directly behind
her. When
had that happened? She turned to face him.
    “Sir?”
    He leaned
closer and murmured in her ear. “My dearest Miss King, you do not
know how much it means to hear you say that. I should hate to think
I stood no chance at all of claiming your heart as my own.”
    His warm
breath caressed her neck. Mary swallowed hard. His hand on her
waist rendered her intoxicated. She trembled inside when he placed
his other hand on her chin, traced his thumb across her lower lip
and gazed into her eyes.
    “Have I a
chance? Do I dare hope your feelings for me are a semblance of my
feelings for you?”
    Yes! She silently screamed. She thought better of speaking the
sentiments aloud. Whilst my affection for him is equal to his regard for me,
I dare not confess it—not in the absence of a proper declaration of
his intentions. “Mr. Wickham—”
    Braced against
the bookshelves, her body clamoured for something she knew not
what. He pressed his lips against hers, gentle at first and then
urgently, coaxing her lips apart. The swirl of his tongue against
hers convinced her there was nothing she would not do for the
dashing officer who held her so intimately. His ardent kisses and
pleasing caresses served as confirmation of his devotion. Such
happy prospects for their future marital felicity pirouetted in her
mind.
    She moaned. The effect upon him was immediate. He unleashed
himself. A