Reese's Bride. Kat Martin

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СКАЧАТЬ first course was served, a nice hot rice and plover soup.

      “So, what did you think of Lady Aldridge’s son?” he asked, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room and begin a semblance of conversation. The women’s eyes shot to each other across the table.

      “He’s too shy,” Aunt Aggie said sharply. “Needs a man’s influence to give him some gumption.”

      Elizabeth’s hand shook as she lifted her soup spoon, but she made no reply.

      Reese fixed his gaze on her face. “Perhaps one day Lady Aldridge will remarry.”

      She lowered the spoon back into her bowl. “That is never going to happen. One husband was more than enough.”

      Aunt Aggie’s silver eyebrows shot up. “Is that so? Then you must have loved him greatly.”

      Elizabeth’s pretty lips thinned. “Loved him? Marriage is one step away from bondage and I will never allow myself to be put in that position again.”

      Aunt Aggie eyed her shrewdly. Very carefully, she wiped her mouth on the linen napkin.

      “I see,” she said, and Reese couldn’t help wondering what exactly it was the old woman did see. One thing he knew, his aunt had an uncanny ability where people were concerned. In a single brief conversation, she understood more about a person than anyone he had ever met.

      The meal progressed a little easier after that. During dessert, egg custard with a delicious raspberry sauce, he mentioned to his aunt that his best friend, Travis Greer, had stopped by for a visit and that he would be writing for the London Times.

      “I only met him a couple of times,” Aunt Aggie said. “Before his dreadful injury, of course. Always seemed a nice enough sort.”

      “He’s become a very good friend,” Reese said, not mentioning the man had once saved his life. The war wasn’t one of his favorite topics.

      “He was very nice to Jared,” Elizabeth added, doing her best to hold up her end of the conversation.

      “The boy craves a man’s attention. Any fool can see that.”

      Elizabeth looked into her dessert bowl as if there were something of interest in the bottom. Reese gave her credit. Clearly, Aunt Aggie was at her irascible best. As soon as dessert was over, Reese led the ladies into the drawing room for an after-dinner drink and both of them seemed relieved.

      “How about a sherry, Aunt Aggie?”

      “Not tonight. I believe I’ll go on up to bed. Where is that strapping young man who helped me before?”

      Timothy, of course, appeared right on cue. “May I be of assistance, my lady?” He had adopted his formal demeanor and Reese almost smiled.

      “Yes, thank you, Mr. Daniels.”

      “Good night, my lady,” Elizabeth said softly, and received a brusque “good night” in return. Timothy led the dowager out of the drawing room toward the staircase, leaving Reese alone with Elizabeth, an occurrence he hadn’t expected.

      Reese thought of the kiss they had shared in the drawing room and couldn’t help wondering what the balance of the evening might bring.

       Seven

      Seated on the sofa across from Reese, Elizabeth nervously sipped a glass of sherry. She still hadn’t figured out how she had wound up alone with Reese. During supper, she had mentioned the possibility of leaving Briarwood, but the dowager had staunched the notion with a warning glance.

      If she left without telling Reese the truth about Jared, she was certain Lady Tavistock would see it done immediately.

      She had to stay. At least for the moment.

      Oddly, the decision stirred a feeling of relief.

      “Another sherry?” Reese asked, and she realized she had drained her glass entirely.

      “Thank you, no. I believe it is past time I retired upstairs.” She rose from her place on the rose velvet sofa, set the empty glass down on the table beside it.

      “You seemed to have reached some sort of truce with my aunt,” Reese said, rising and setting his own empty glass on the table.

      Hardly. Currently the old woman had Elizabeth entirely under her thumb, but of course she couldn’t say that. “Perhaps she has decided to keep an open mind. In time, perhaps she will see there are two sides to every story.”

      Elizabeth prayed it was so. She intended to speak to the dowager on the morrow, try to explain what had happened all of those years ago.

      Reese’s fierce blue gaze bored into her. “Are there two sides, Elizabeth?”

      He was asking her to explain. She doubted he would understand. She didn’t entirely understand herself.

      “My father refused to let us marry, Reese. He insisted I marry the earl.”

      “Funny, I seem to remember you saying that you would gain his approval and you would marry me.”

      She tried not to flinch beneath his cold regard. “We were never officially engaged. In time, I thought my father would give us his blessing. He refused. After you were gone, it wasn’t so easy to fight him. I wasn’t as strong as I am now.”

      And I was pregnant and frightened and only eighteen. But she could hardly say that.

      “And there was Aldridge,” he said darkly, “right there knocking on your door. Writing you poetry, always solicitous, always full of flattery.”

      “He was nothing at all what he seemed. He fooled my father completely. At first he even fooled me.”

      “Still, you are a countess, your son an earl.”

      She looked down at her empty glass, wishing she had more sherry, wishing she had let him pour her some more. “I am wealthy in my own right. My father left his fortune to me. It is returned to me now that Aldridge is dead.”

      “Lucky for you.” He had moved closer, she realized, and now stood right behind her. She could feel his warm breath on the nape of her neck. “Have you thought about what happened in the music room?”

      She swallowed. She could scarcely get those moments out of her head. Slowly, she turned to face him. “I’ve thought about it. I’ve never been kissed in that way.”

      He frowned. “Surely Aldridge proved a satisfactory lover.”

      Her stomach rolled. She couldn’t bear to think of the nights Edmund had pressed himself on her. “Please, I would rather not discuss my late husband.”

      His hands came to rest at her waist. “You’re right, of course. I would rather discuss what might be arranged between the two of us.” She stiffened as he bent toward her, pressed his lips against the side of her neck. Gooseflesh raced over her skin and her heart set up a clatter.

      “What СКАЧАТЬ