Not Quite Married Read Online Free PDF

then pulled Brien to the wardrobe to begin untying her laces. “Got some mighty peculiar servants, though. They ate in th’ servants’ ’all wi’ us.
    One’s big as a ’ouse an’ don’t say a word. Dumb, they say.” She gave a massive shiver. “Not a ’air on ’is ’ead an’ eyes shinin’ like black glass. Give me th’ willies.” Another shiver and she was back to her mistress’s adventure. “What’s ’e like . . . yer Frenchie? What was th’ ball like? Was it grand an’ thrillin’?”
    “Well, Raoul is very handsome. Mannerly and attentive. Very . . .
    very . . .”
    “Good enough t’ eat?” Ella prompted with a grin.
    “Ella!”
    “Naughty an’ excitin’? Quick with ’is ’ands in th’ dark?”
    “No! He’s . . . he’s . . .” As she struggled to put her impressions into words, she realized that there was something in Raoul’s perfect manner that she found unsettling.
    “Then, tell me what ’e said. ”
    When she tried, Brien could scarcely recall a thing he had said . .
    . could only remember the low, compelling tones in which he spoke. “His voice is so deep that every word sounds velvety and soothing. When he speaks, you just lose all ability to think straight.” The sense of her own thoughts came clear to her. “His voice is like . . . like a cradlesong . . . as if every word is lulling you to . . .”
    Ella paused with a wicked laugh in the midst of removing her bodice. “T’ open yer thighs, most likely. Not that ’e’d need much
    ’elp there, what wi’ that ’andsome face of ’is. Did ’e kiss ye?”
    Brien blushed from her breasts up and the little maid laughed.
    “I knew it!” Ella crowed. “I knew when I saw ’im that ’e’d waste no time samplin’ th’ wares.” She shoved her face near Brien’s.
    “And ye loved it.”
    “I did not,” Brien declared with emphatic hauteur. “I found it . .
    . interesting. ”
    “And?”

    “And rather pleasant.”
    “Come on, my lady, ye loved it!” Ella chided, demanding the truth behind Brien’s veiled eyes and furious blushing. “An’ ye want more.”
    “His kisses were enjoyable,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t be adverse to another.”
    “I’ll bet ye wouldn’t.” Ella beamed. “Yer mon-sieur must be some bloke. One night an’ ’e’s got ye looking forward t’ th’
    weddin’, instead o’ dreadin’ it.”
    Ella’s words circled again and again in Brien’s mind as she climbed into the crisp sheets and watched Ella snuff the candles and withdraw. After one night, a few short hours, he had her not only reconciled to the marriage but anticipating it?
    As she lay in the darkness, staring through the dimness at the canopy spread above her, a barrage of impressions and sensations came rushing back: Raoul’s handsome face, the feel of his lips moving on hers, and the shivers that went through her every time Raoul trained that penetrating gaze on her or poured his deep, lulling tones into her ear.
    He was trying to win her, she realized. That was the reason for the attentive elegance of his manners and the silky persuasion of his voice. But it only made sense, from his perspective. A bit of courtship seemed prudent to get things off on the right foot, considering that they would be living together for the rest of their lives.
    But she couldn’t help feeling that he was a bit too eager to please, that his charm was a bit too polished . . . even calculated.
    . . .
    Don’t be ridiculous, her pragmatic inner self demanded. Be flattered that he takes the time and trouble to seek your good favor.
    Don’t be flattered, another insightful part of her declared, be cautious. If something seems too good to be true, then it generally is.
    And therein lay the root of her discontent. She was charmed by everything he did, but it was all too clear that he intended everything he did to charm her.
    She slipped from the bed, donned her dressing gown, and began to pace.
    Everything she had seen of him was what