The Ties That Bind Read Online Free PDF Page A

her guests.
     
    Arabella wrapped her shawl over her head and shut the side door behind her. The wind had died down and the gardens lay before her, patterned silver in the waning moonlight. Considering her tangled feelings, the dinner party had gone extremely well. James was the perfect host.   Even Tom seemed to enjoy himself and had exchanged several innocuous remarks with her husband without provoking a response.
    In the distance, the faint glow of a lamp in Tom's window guided her to his cottage. She swallowed a sob. Tom deserved better than a weeping water pot. He deserved a passionate lover. She thought about James and his insinuations that her father had meddled in their marriage with disastrous results.
    If he had voiced his doubts when her father was alive would she even have considered them? She paused to readjust her shawl and looked back at the house where she hoped James lay sleeping. She was so afraid of her father, she probably would have ignored James simply to keep the peace. Was that why he had waited to try and set things straight between them or was he simply manipulating her again?
    Despite her best efforts, she couldn't control her deep feelings for James. She'd tried to pretend she hated him, but one night in his bed had proved that she craved him on an instinctive level which surpassed all her feelings for Tom.   She'd fallen in love with him the first moment she'd met him. When her father had insisted that James was only marrying her for his money, she'd argued with him for the first time in her life.
    Her steps slowed and she stared into the darkness. Of course, James had destroyed any illusions she had cherished when he appeared in her bedroom blind drunk and too angry to care whether he was careful with her or not. Tom's cottage loomed in front of her and she knocked on the door. It opened immediately. Tom awaited her dressed in his white shirt and breeches, his smile warm and intimate.
    "I thought you might not come."
    She forced a smile. For the first time she felt like she was being unfaithful. She quickly banished the thought. "I had to wait until the house was quiet and for James to start to snore."
    "His lordship snores?"
    Arabella gave a watery chuckle. "Like a pig."
    He took her shawl and draped it over the back of a chair by the kitchen fire. "I'll try to restrict my animal noises to the occasional grunt or groan."
    She traced the firm line of his narrow top lip with her fingernail. "As long as I'm allowed to scream too."
    He took her hand and led her up the narrow staircase. His cottage had two bedrooms. The larger of the two contained a huge bed which took up almost all the space. A cheerful patchwork quilt covered the cream colored linen sheets and thick pillows. Arabella had spent some of the most erotic moments of her life in this bed being tutored in the ways of love.
    Tom's hands closed over her breasts and he drew her against him. He was already erect, the heat of his cock pressed against the small of her back.
    "You looked beautiful tonight."
    She shivered as he worked at the buttons on her dress and allowed it to fall to the floor. His fingers tugged at her corset, loosening the strings, allowing her to breathe more easily.
    "So did you."
    He chuckled, the sound warm against her throat. "James couldn't take his eyes off you. I'm surprised he didn't drag you off and ravish you." He bit down on her neck. "I wanted to follow you and watch, of course. The sight of all that pink silk bunched at your waist, your legs wrapped around his lordships hips as he fucked you up against the wall would've made me come for sure."
    Arabella licked her lips as her corset fell away leaving her in her stockings. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs planted firmly over her nipples. She leaned back to study his face. "Against the wall?"
    One-handed, he pulled his shirt over his head to display his broad chest, picked her up and headed for the door. He settled her legs around his waist allowing his