Bride Who Fell in Love with Her Husband Read Online Free PDF

accepted that his wife needed time to settle into their life, and his bed. And he needed patience to accept that the matter would not be settled after a few hours of marriage.
    Her eyes lifted and caught his gaze. The light in her blue eyes sent heat straight to his cock. Before he embarrassed himself in front of Mrs. Jensen, he cleared his throat and turned away to collect his cane. “We shall take that one, the blue, and the lavender that my wife chose earlier. I shall wait outside while Mrs. Stanhope changes.”
    He stepped out of the room. Shopping for Rose was an arousing experience. She was enticing, his wife.
    Unbidden, a thought flashed into his mind that challenged his confidence and brought back Rose’s beliefs about love. What if Rose was correct and she could not love him? Ever. What if she never settled into their marriage? Could her past pull her back into its seductive fold?
    Tightening his hand on his cane, he realized there was no satisfactory answer.

Chapter Four
    Rose found the evening odd. After the shopping excursion, Thomas was quiet as they made their way home, and continued to be so throughout dinner. The baroness, too, had little to say, and the sisters followed her mood. If not for the slightest hint of a smile on Priscilla’s face, the meal was without humor.
    â€œIs your mother ill?” Rose asked him as he escorted her from the table to the library to select a book. “Not once did she insult me or scowl in my direction. Is it possible she has come down with a fever . . . or the plague?”
    Thomas snorted. “Mother is too cross to die before she has found a way to drive you off. No, I think her silence was caused by her plotting your painful demise.”
    Rose nodded, her face grim. “I expected as much. Is there a reason for her hatred or does the idea of you begetting a grandchild with me, and my imagined inferior Gypsy bloodline, cause her anguish?”
    â€œMy dear, Rose, though my mother will never sleep comfortably under the looming terror of knowing you could one day mother my children, I know that is not her greatest fear.”
    â€œThen what is her greatest fear?”
    Thomas glanced around him to make certain no one was near to overhear the secret then leaned in. “Rats.”
    Her eyes widened. “Truly? How dire. We shall keep a rat catcher close lest one of the dirty rodents dare make a run toward your mother’s dainty feet.”
    They shared a laugh. After a moment Thomas sobered. “Truthfully, Mother likes no one. She forces herself to be amiable to certain persons because of her duties as baroness. She hates Father, tolerates her children, and probably secretly wishes she’d taken to a convent. There is nothing you can do to change her opinion.”
    Rose stared at his perfect, smiling mouth. “How did you manage to remain good-humored with such a parent?”
    He shrugged. “As her son, I had the freedom my sisters lacked. I was not shadowed by her unhappiness. My brother was the same.” He sighed. “Fredrick will be baron one day. For now he is happily living as far from her as he can manage.”
    She envied men their freedoms. “Hmm. I feel compassion for your put-upon sisters. Surely something can be done to lift their spirits.”
    â€œI fear not, though you are welcome to try.” He led her into the library. “If you can find a solution to their misery, you are a greater force than I. Clearly, I was unable to pry them away from Mother.”
    She pondered the challenge for a moment. Perhaps Thomas would accept her matchmaking his sisters. However, until she had suitors selected, she’d stay mum on the subject. “I shall keep watch for the next few days to see what I can do. There has to be a way to change their circumstance.”
    Shrugging, he walked to a bookshelf and examined the spines of the books it contained. He pulled out a volume for further inspection.