Temptation and Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page A

hidden depths—tantalizing depths her inner self had, entirely unexpectedly, longed to explore.
    It was just as well he hadn’t offered to shake her hand. She wasn’t at all sure how she would have coped if his touch affected her to a commensurate degree as his gaze. She might have done something truly dreadful, like shudder revealingly, or shiver and close her eyes.
    Luckily, she hadn’t had to endure that trial.
    Instead, all was well— excellently well—in her world.
    She couldn’t stop grinning. She allowed herself a little skip, an expression of pure exuberance, then looked ahead as the first cottages came into view, lining the road that ran north to south through the center of Colyton.
    It wasn’t a big village, but it was the home of her forebears, and that endeared it to her. To her mind, it was precisely the right size.
    And they were staying.
    At least until they found the treasure.
    It was Monday, late afternoon, and other than herself the road was deserted. She looked about her as she walked to the inn, noting the blacksmith’s forge a little way up the lane to the left, and beyond that the graveyard rising to the church, perched atop a ridge that formed the western boundary of the village proper. In front of the church, the common rolled down to a large duck pond, and then further, to eventually border the road. Directly opposite sat the Red Bells in all its flaking splendor.
    Halting at the intersection with the lane, she paused to study her new responsibility. Other than the peeling shutters, the front façade would pass muster, at least for now. There were trestle tables and benches set outside; all could do with a good scrub, but were otherwise serviceable. Three window boxes stood empty, devoid of life, but that could easily be rectified—and they would benefit from a coat of paint, too. The window glass needed a good wash, and the rest could do with a thorough brushing, but beyond that, the front would do.
    She looked up at the attic windows above; at least the rooms up there would have plenty of light—or would once the windows were cleaned. She wondered what state the other rooms—especially the guest rooms on the first floor—were in.
    Glancing further along the road, she let her gaze sweep the line of small cottages facing the common, all the way to the larger house at the end of the stretch—the first house if one came in from the north.
    She suspected that house was Colyton Manor, her family’s ancestral home. Her great-grandfather had been the last Colyton to reside there, many years ago. She doubted anyone still living would remember him.
    After a moment, she shook free of her thoughts, looked again at the inn, and felt her smile grow. Time to put her siblings’ worries to rest. Her smile widening into a beaming grin, she headed for the inn door.
    They were in the corner where she’d left them, their boxes and trunks piled about them. She didn’t need to say anything for them to know. One look at her face and the twins, blue-eyed, blond-haired angel-demons, let out unladylike whoops and came pelting up to fling their arms around her.
    “You did it! You did it !” Caroling in unison, they danced around her.
    “Yes, but hush now.” She hugged them briefly, then released them and walked on, her gaze going first to meet Issy’s blue eyes in quiet triumph, then, smile deepening, she looked at Henry, who of them all remained somber and serious.
    “Was it all right?” he asked.
    Henry was fifteen-going-on-forty, and felt the weight of every one of those years. Although taller than Em, indeed even taller than Issy now, he shared Em’s coloring—light brown hair and light brown eyes, not as complex as Em’s hazel—while his face was a much stronger casting of his sisters’ delicate features.
    She didn’t need him to say it to know he’d worried that someone at the Grange might take advantage of her. “It was entirely civilized.” She smiled reassuringly as she set her