The Fairy Tale Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

done
her.
    Miranda closed her eyes as sadness swept over
her.
    "He said that you were right, and he should
never have overreached himself with Emily in the first place."
    "Perhaps he is not as foolish as I had
thought. I will speak to him — "
    His words dispelled Miranda's growing sense
of hope. Knowing her impertinence, but anxious that he heed her,
she put her hand to his cheek. The rasp of stubble against her
fingers startled her. "He has been badly hurt. Do not humiliate him
further by speaking to him as if he were an errant lad in need of
guidance. "
    He turned his head so that his lips brushed
her fingers as he spoke. "I take your point, Miss Fenster."
    Miranda let her hand drop away from his
face.
    But the intimacy of being in his arms and
jolting comfortably against him at every step could not be
prevented. "Valentine must never know that I tried to intercede on
his behalf."
    "It does not speak well of you that you would
deceive him."
    Stung by the censure in his words, she said,
"Perhaps someday, when Emily joins our family, I shall tell them
both."
    "Then you believe your brother will not give
up his hopes so easily?"
    "Wouldn't you search for your Cinder Ella,
Your Grace, if you had once met her at a ball and wanted no one
else to be your wife?" He stumbled slightly, and her arms tightened
around his neck in alarm.
    After a silence so long that she realized he
would not answer her, she said, "No. Valentine will not give up so
easily." Remembering her brother's slumped figure, Miranda wondered
if she spoke the truth. "I do understand that you only did what you
thought was best for Emily. I will be happy to act as though this
meeting between us never occurred."
    They reached the cottage as she spoke. He
stooped slightly to enter the doorway, and his arms tightened
around Miranda. His breath against her damp neck made her shiver.
"And what if I am not?"
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER TWO
     
    Simon stirred the fire, his back to Miranda.
It amazed him that he had not yet wrung her slender neck. So she
thought he could dismiss this gross invasion of his privacy? If she
had intruded any later, the damning papers in his pouch would have
been laid out on the table. She could not know how he had changed
if she thought he would not seek compensation for the way she had
turned his life upside down this night.
    He had believed his infatuation with her long
dead, until today. Holding her in his arms, the feel of the rounded
underside of her breast against his fingers, and hearing her
innocently questioning whether he would play Prince Charming and
pursue his Cinder Ella had done more than rekindle those feelings.
He was ablaze with a desire so strong it was driving him mad. Why
else would he be considering seducing her?
    Suddenly, all he could think of was the fact
that, in other circumstances, she would now be his wife. If that
were so, he would not have to play with the fire and keep his eyes
turned away from her or risk exposing the heat of his desire to
hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her. For a moment, he
regretted that he had never managed to turn himself into a devil,
despite his efforts. For a devil would have no qualms in seducing
Miss Fenster. But the old duke's training was too firmly branded
into his heart, despite its falsity.
    He sighed into the fire, bringing it further
to life.
    But he, Simon-the-no-longer-saintly, had more
than qualms. He had good reason not to marry and he'd not risk
getting Miranda with child and bringing a new bastard into the
world. Somehow though, the good reasons didn't seem good enough
tonight. Fate had literally dropped this woman into his arms. And
he was damned tired of the cruel jokes Fate had been playing on
him.
    How many of his men had died in India,
fighting the barbaric practices of suttee and the cruel murderous
thugees who struck without warning? But not Simon. He had shrugged
at danger, had thrown himself into the midst of any situation
without a thought to watching his