The Wife He Always Wanted Read Online Free PDF Page B

breeches made from fringed animal hide.”
    He snorted at her tart comment. Finally, he’d wrung some emotion from her. Well, unless one considered the horror on her face when he arrived at her small and tumbledown cottage, announced he was her fiancé, and hauled her onto the back of his big black horse before dragging her to the nearest parson.
    The tightly held emotions he suspected were buried deep beneath her blank façade would come out eventually. She’d lost her mother, father, aunt, brother, home, and freedom. This was a heavy weight for anyone to carry.
    He hoped they’d be home at the Harrington town house before the dam released. His mother was better skilled at handling female tears than he.
    “I do like to shock,” Gabe said. Now that he was stuck with her, he wanted to make the best of the marriage. “I think I shall make my societal debut in these. I’ll be gossiped about for years hence.”
    Sarah gaped, clearly mortified. “You would not dare.”
    He’d certainly chosen a prissy and humorless wife. She didn’t understand teasing. “Perhaps not. We Harringtons are already known as a wild bunch. Socializing dressed as an American woodsman would only serve to confirm the fact.” He glanced out the window. The coach was nearing the inn. “The surprise of my unexpected return will be enough to set the gossips twittering. My arrival with a wife in tow will notch up the news to a feverish level without adding buckskin breeches to the mix.”
    She relaxed, a bit. “Thank you for your consideration.”
    The coach stopped and Gabe helped Sarah down. Her cool hand was small in his as he led her into the inn.
    They ate the stew, served with bread and butter. Both turned out to be quite good. After her fifth suppressed yawn, Gabe decided they should spend the evening there and use the last of his funds to procure seats on the morning coach to London. He’d put off their travel for one more night to give Sarah a few extra hours to settle into the idea of her new life.
    “We will arrive rested and ready to face my family,” he said as he guided her into a small but tidy chamber. “I fear my letters were clipped and far between. They know of Albert from my letters but nothing about his death, or our marriage. It will be a jolt.”
    Sarah moved to the window.
    He stepped aside as a pair of servants carried in a hip bath and set it before the fire. Buckets of water followed. Soon the tub was filled with steaming water. A maid set out a pair of towels and soap and withdrew.
    Gabe reached above his head to stretch then scratched the sides of his face. Several weeks of beard growth covered his skin and added to the heathenish first impression he’d left on Sarah. Bathing aside, it had been years since he’d worried about proper grooming. When traveling across the plains of America or stomping through jungles along the Amazon River, no one cared if he’d missed a few days of shaving or had a decent haircut.
    Mother would be appalled.
    He smiled.
    “Would you care to have the first bath?” He planned to see her settled, bathe himself, and spend the rest of the evening partaking of ale in the tavern room below.
    A sniff followed his question. A quick examination and he could see her visibly trembling.
    “Sarah?” He crossed the room to her. She stood, stiff, peering out the glass. A light rain had started to fall. Gently, he turned her around. Tears were flowing unchecked down her face when she looked into his eyes.
    “My brother is dead. I have no more family,” she whispered.
    His heart dropped. “I know, dearest, I know.” He eased her into his arms and drew her to his chest. She resisted only for a moment before she slumped against him with a soft sob.
    Rain pattered against the window while Sarah cried for the brother she’d never see again. “I’d hoped the author of the letter I received about his death was mistaken and Albert was not truly gone. Your arrival took that hope away.”
    “He was