The Wedding Escape Read Online Free PDF Page A

instructed, now working on wadding up the train of her gown and stuffing it into the corner for a pillow. “I’ll get it later.”
    Instead Jack placed the diamond necklace and emerald earrings Miss Belford had given him earlier into the center of the tiara, then wound the veil protectively around the valuable cache of jewelry before placing it on the seat beside him.
    Amelia settled wearily against the lumpy satin cushion she had created. “I do hope you’ll forgive me, Mr. Kent, if I close my eyes for a moment.”
    â€œGo ahead.” Jack leaned back against his seat and stretched his legs out as much as the carriage would allow. “I’ll wake you before we reach—”
    He stopped suddenly and regarded her in confusion.
    And then the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement as he realized the lovely, elegant Miss Amelia Belford was snoring.
    Â 
    J ACK KNEW THEY HAD REACHED LONDON LONG BEFORE he drew back the maroon curtain to see the ghostly forms of Mayfair’s sleeping houses standing in endless neat rows before him. The stench of the city assailed his nostrils, a caustic brew of ash and smoke spewing from the chimneys of homes and factories, combined with the stomach-churning fetor of the Thames. The sooty veil that hung in a perpetual caul over the city’s crowded skies was less effusive in the summer than in winter, when tens of thousands of coal fires were lit across the city every morning to banish the chill of night and facilitate the preparation of the day’s meals. Unfortunately, the serenity of the warm night air had trapped the day’s smoke, blending it with the reek of the tons of horse manure that fell unceremoniously onto the streets each day and the human sewage that flowed with equal abandon into the gray, fetid waters of the Thames.
    It was almost enough to make Jack wish he were back in the floral-choked confines of the church.
    He stretched his neck from side to side, silently groaning as he released the tight grip of muscles corded there. Then he gingerly shifted his position, marginally alleviating the pressure that had built along the vertebrae and muscles of his back, taking care not to disturb the sleeping form of Miss Belford. She had been in a deep slumber for several hours now. As her repose wore on, her initially upright position within the carriage had gradually deteriorated, until finally Jack had been forced to reach out and catch her just before she slid off her seat entirely. Her response had been to snuggle against his chest, evidently finding him a far more comfortable mattress than the scratchy clump of embroidered satin and pearls against which she had previously been lying. Reluctant to waken her when she was so obviously exhausted, but unable to support her for any length of time while seated on the opposite bench, he had moved beside her, thereby enabling her to capsize completely, until her little stockinged feet were drawn up beneath her and her hair was spilling in a tangled river across his lap.
    For a long while he sat rigid, unaccustomed to having a woman lie so trustingly against him while she slept. It occurred to him that his experience with women was somewhat limited in that regard. He had indulged in more than his share of sexual pleasure, but he preferred the company of the females he met abroad. They were inclined to view him as a pleasant but fleeting diversion, which he supposed lessened their expectations of him. Delving into the twisted roots of his past was of no interest to them. By contrast, the well-bred young ladies of Scotland and England never let him forget his despicable beginnings.
    From the time he had fallen into Genevieve’s care he had been obsessed with trying to make something better of himself—to carve himself into a man who bore no resemblance to the filthy, illiterate, angry little thief she had rescued from the Inveraray jail some twenty-two years earlier. It had been a long and