No Choice but Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page A

lucky.
    She’d gotten more of the latter than she’d bargained for on the Atlantic crossing from America to England, or she would have if she hadn’t panicked and set herself up with an identity that wasn’t really hers to avoid being bothered by men. But it was just as well that she’d presented herself as a married woman. She was just starting her grand tour and didn’t want it to end immediately by her falling in love with the first handsome man she came across.
    That had been a definite possibility when she’d met Boyd Anderson. When he’d held her in his arms there on the dock in Bridgeport, Connecticut, saving her from a nasty fall off the crates she’d climbed up on, she’d been quite flustered. But when he smiled at her! Good grief, what that had made her feel inside was so strange it frightened her, so she’d been glad of an excuse to run off.
    And she hadn’t really calmed down from that encounter by the time he approached her on the deck of his ship a short while later. What did she know about men, after all? Having three marriage proposals from old men in her village hadn’t prepared her for someone like Boyd Anderson. Even having a sixteen-year-old lad chasing after her carriage when she was riding out of Danbury with her mother had engendered no feelings but amusement. The boy had followed them about during their brief shopping trip to the bigger town, but hadn’t said a word until they left. Then he’d shouted after her that he’d make her a fine husband! She’d been twelve at the time. She’d done no more than giggle while her mother rolled her eyes.
    But Boyd Anderson with his curly, golden brown hair and those dark brown eyes that so easily mesmerized her was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. And if he hadn’t approached her again there on the deck, so soon after their first meeting, how differently that trip might have turned out. But he did. He even brushed against her, overwhelming her with his masculinity. And then that new smile, so sensual it stole her breath and produced a wealth of new sensations that unsettled her enough to bring the panic back. It was no wonder she had jumped on the idea that he gave her, when her maid had approached with the two children they were escorting to England, and he’d teasingly asked if they were hers.
    He hadn’t approached her again, so pretending to be married had served her purposes. It had kept him from making any more overtures. But, oh, how exciting that had been! Knowing he was attracted to her, seeing it in his eyes, in his expression, every time he got near her. His restraint had been especially admirable because he had seemed like a powder keg of passions!
    Thinking about him was keeping her from getting back to sleep immediately, but that wasn’t unusual. She regretted having panicked when a man as handsome and masculine as Boyd had expressed interest in her, but that’s why she’d come on this trip—for adventure and experience. The next time she encountered the attentions of a handsome man, she’d know how to handle the situation.
    The annoying mewling noise started up again. If she were in her own home, she would immediately have investigated. She couldn’t bear to think of animals in pain, hungry, or being abused. She’d chased farmer Cantry about the village square once with his own stick, having grabbed it from his hand when she caught him using it on his horse. Deer ate apples from her hand, they had such trust in her. And two of her neighbor’s cats left field mice on her porch regularly as gifts.
    Again the sound grated on Katey’s ears and heart. Finally she threw off her covers, grabbed the robe she’d left at the foot of the bed, and was out the door before she’d even belted the robe. She was about to pound on the door to the other room when she arrested her fist just in time. She didn’t really want to wake anyone else just because her sleep was being disturbed.
    She pulled her long black hair out from