Sandra Madden Read Online Free PDF

well aid you in your search. But are you not interested in finding your true father as well?"
    "In all likelihood my mother was a poor underage girl with no knowledge of my father."
    Bloody hell! Kate believed her mother to be a strumpet. And there was a strong probability that she was correct. Still, as a gentleman, Edmund could not agree.
    "Have you not thought your mother might be gentry. A woman mayhap, who'd been indiscreet?"
    “’Tis possible," Kate conceded.
    "The odds are against you finding your true mother," Edmund pointed out gently. "England is a large country. You might have been born in a remote village."
    She shook her head vehemently and argued passionately, "I shall find a way to travel the length and breadth of the land if I must. Somewhere there is a person who has seen and knows of this ring, or one similar. I shall begin with goldsmiths. I will visit every goldsmith in Britain if I must. My hope lies with this ring."
    "If there is any way that I can help—
    "Thank you, Edmund. You have always treated me with kindness."
    Any acts of kindness toward this beautiful young woman now might be misconstrued. "Kate, I am not the boy you remember," he warned.
    "I shall never forget the pony you gave to me. Do you remember Star?"
    "Do I remember? You were so excited your screams could be heard all the way to Hyde Park. Your face grew so red and round I thought you would explode. I worried how I would explain such a phenomenon to my mother."
    Kate's laughter filled the secluded wood, a light pealing sound that caused Edmund to smile, to feel a warmth wash over him that he did not understand. For so long he had felt... untouched. His emotions always in check, confined behind a locked door waiting for release, waiting for someone with a key.
    "I loved Star," Kate whispered, lost in her memories.
    Her eyes sparkled like golden jewels. Edmund felt as if he were being drawn into them, diving into deep pools of hope and promise. His mouth went quite dry as he dragged away his gaze.
    He lowered his eyes to her mouth and locked on her lips, lips parted in a sweet, wistful sigh. Edmund's heart slammed against his chest, demanding he taste Kate's open, inviting lips.
    "You, not me, own the kind heart," he murmured.
    His voice was husky and soft as he gave in to temptation. Bending his head, Edmund leaned closer to Kate's upturned face, her remarkable eyes... until his mouth came down with a sudden urgency and covered hers.
    Kate thought she would swoon on the spot. Oh, hey-ho!
    Edmund's mouth smothered hers, warm and wet and delicious!
    God save her!
    While her mind spun, Kate's lips welcomed Edmund. A fierce heat rushed from her heart to her belly and to the tips of her fingers. So many emotions swirled through her, she could not savor all at once. Edmund was kissing her, causing her heart to skip and leap in a frightening, wondrous spine-tingling fashion, 'Twas her first kiss!
    A kiss that could lead to naught.
    Kate tasted and savored the salt of Edmund's lips, inhaled the sandalwood-and-leather scent of him, and touched the rough bristle of his cheek with her hand. Ripples of white-hot pleasure shot through her. Warm and trembling, her lips quivered beneath his. She feared she would dissolve in tears of happiness at any moment.
    She knew she should stop him, but she could not. How could she stop a dream? She felt his hunger and was filled with an urgent desire to satisfy him.
    And then she felt him draw away. "Kate..." His breath came in ragged gulps; the timbre of his voice sounded hoarse. "I... I don't know what came over me. Pray, forgive me."
    Forgiveness was not at all necessary. She would like nothing more than for him to kiss her again. And again.
    "Pretend this never happened," he pressed.
    How in the world could she pretend such a heart-searing kiss had never happened? If Kate had a kingdom to give, she would gladly turn it over for another of his kisses.
    Nevertheless, she nodded her compliance. He needn't know