Sin Read Online Free PDF Page B

you he didn’t feel tiny,” Min admonished.
    He blushed at the quip and awkwardly slid his hand around his nephew’s head. For once his hand felt large, unwieldy, dangerous, but the baby’s head fit perfectly within. He cradled the tiny bottom, his gloved fingers squishing into the thick cloth there. Large blue eyes ringed with dark lashes gazed up at him as though he was the most fascinating sight ever beheld. Dark blond hair dusted the strangely shaped head, thickest in a ring above the ears.
    He shifted his hands, trying to ensure he had the best grip, and he felt as though he were trying to juggle china.
    “There!” Min crowed, “A smile!”
    His nephew’s hands fisted, then waved. He’d always thought infants were swaddled tightly, but Min had explained that she did so for sleep. She wished to let David explore and play.
    Some madness seemed to overtake him as he gazed down at the bubbling lips and the large eyes. Suddenly he was cooing and gooing.
    Beside him, Min giggled. “I think you are smitten, aren’t you, Marcus?”
    He couldn’t help but answer her smile. “I have to admit I am, Min.” She was so at ease with the little one even after a mere fortnight. Would he be the same as a father? He suspected he’d be the talk of the nursery if he had his own son—watching his miracle every moment of the day. He’d have to take care to employ an indulgent nanny, not a strident one.
    “Find a wife and you could be blessed as well.”
    He tried to tease. “You have a child dependent on you. I forbid you to launch into a matchmaking project.” But he wasn’t going to find a wife or, if he could help it, be a father.
    Min laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of attaching any female of my acquaintance to you.” He knew she’d meant to tease but her face sobered instantly and the vivacious light faded in her green-blue eyes.
    What was she thinking? Remembering how she’d caught him at twenty-one kissing Miss Wallace, who was her bosombow? He’d been cradling the lady’s full breast. Never a wilting flower, Min had accused him of trying to rape her best friend. She’d brained him with a vase to save her friend’s virtue.
    In that one moment, his beloved sister had revealed what was deeply in her heart—she thought he was like their father. She’d thought that he was capable of forcing himself on a defenseless woman. Miss Wallace had thrown herself at him, but Min wouldn’t believe it.
    She’d thought he was a brute. A debaucher. A rapist.
    How could she think he was like that? He used to cry himself to sleep listening to Min’s tears at night. With a child’s instinct, he’d known the way Father had touched Min had been tainted by lewdness and nastiness. He’d known it was wrong.
    The baby’s loud burp startled him. “Bravo, David.”
    Min dabbed at the baby’s pursed lips with her cloth, cleaning chunks of white. Cooing sounds ensued between both mother and son. David gave Min a gummy smile that tore at Marcus’ heart. “What about love?” she asked softly.
    “I have friends who married for love,” he said, “Who speak highly of it—call it the most perfect happiness. You know more about love than I.”
    Min looked up, her large blue-green eyes alive with perfect happiness. “I could never begin to explain love. Intimacy. Friendship. Something glorious that both hurts and enriches. And you know that if you lost it, your heart might never mend.”
    “But love is not for me. Nor is marriage.”
    Concern cast shadows in those eyes—concern for him—as she reached for David. “I thought you’d given up your sinful ways.”
    He relinquished the baby with relief—too small and precious for his big hands. “So did I. But some temptations are too great to resist.” That kiss. Venetia Hamilton had tasted of sweet tea, sugared biscuits, and feminine heat, and he had wanted to devour her.
    “Did you help Miss Hamilton? I know your honor balked at forgiving the debt—”
    “Yes, I protected