Wedding Night With the Earl Read Online Free PDF

thought he’d buried for good. He saw Annie lying in bed, drenched in sweat, gasping for every breath. He’d watched her shriek in pain, swearing she hated him for planting the babe inside her. He’d listened to her beg him to save her life, to save her baby’s life. He’d heard her screams until he’d thought he’d go insane from the helplessness he’d felt.
    Damn, he’d tried. He’d called in every doctor and apothecary in London to help her. And later, near the end, she’d pleaded with him to cut the baby from her and end her life.
    Adam … Adam …
    He swallowed hard. The damning, unwanted images from the past faded from his thoughts.
    “You have to know telling you about our wives was hard for us,” Bray said in a low voice as a couple of young ladies walked very slowly past them.
    “Damn hard,” Harrison admitted under his breath. “But, all right, we’ve admitted we should have told you that afternoon at your house.”
    “Hell, no, you should have written the minute you knew.” Adam looked from Bray to Harrison. “Did you think I wouldn’t be happy for you?”
    “Of course not,” Harrison said.
    “That’s not it at all,” Bray added. “We didn’t want to—I don’t know. Just take our word for it that it wasn’t easy to tell you our wives are expecting a babe when you lost yours.”
    “If I hadn’t come to London, when were you going to tell me?” he asked crossly.
    “After the babes were born,” Harrison admitted.
    “And we knew everything was all right,” Bray finished. “Adam, I know what hell you went through with Annie those three days. Remember, I was there with you.”
    Adam remembered.
    Bray’s mouth thinned in a grimace. He touched Adam’s shoulder, but Adam shrugged it off and turned away.
    “I’m fine,” he said, but he wasn’t. They were his friends and he was happy for them. They deserved sons, but he was worried for them, too. Bray and Harrison were built like him. Tall, with wide, muscular shoulders. What if their wives had the same problem Annie had and couldn’t deliver the babe?
    Adam wanted a drink. He turned to head for the beverage table and his gaze lighted on a tall, slender young lady staring at the dance floor. She wasn’t smiling as though enjoying the lively dancers. Her expression was more one of wistfulness. It almost spoke of envy. But why would a stunning beauty have reason to envy anyone?
    The neckline of her pale pink gown swept low, showing a gentle swell of enticing breasts. A flowing, frothy skirt seemed to flutter down her legs. Her carriage was straight, but not rigid. Expressive eyes, small nose, and shapely lips all came together beautifully, making a lovely face. But standing there with no one else near her, watching the dancers, she looked very much the way he felt at the moment—totally alone. And suddenly he sensed there were emotions deep inside her that were also in him.
    Adam glanced at Bray, nodded in the young lady’s direction, and said, “What’s her name?”
    “Miss Katherine Wright. Niece to our host. She made her debut a couple of years ago.”
    “I’m going to ask her to dance,” Adam said, and turned away.
    “No, wait,” Bray said. “Don’t do that.”
    Harrison grabbed his arm as he passed and tried to hold him. “Adam, stop. Not her.”
    Adam shrugged off his friend’s grasp and kept walking.

 
    Chapter 5
     … she, poor soul,
    Knows not which way to stand, to look, to speak,
    And sits as one new-risen from a dream.
    —The Taming of the Shrew, act 4, scene 1
     
    He didn’t stop until he stood between the young lady and the dance floor. “Miss Wright?” he asked.
    Long, full lashes rose, and she looked up at him with the most vibrant green eyes he’d ever seen. In that instant, Adam’s lower stomach tightened perceptibly and his lower body thickened. He hadn’t felt that instant rush of deep, aching desire in way too long, and he didn’t know if he wanted to embrace it or run from it. He