1939912059 (R) by Delilah Marvelle Read Free Book Online Page B

believe she might one day have such a thing. She imagined it held the secret to their entire marriage. “Its mystery holds a certain power over me,” she confessed. “When I have enough money, I intend to hire a British tutor so I can read every last sentence.”
    “Is that so?” He tilted his dark head, his eyes brightening. “I speak English, you know. Fluently. My mother was British. I still have family in London, actually.”
    Her heart popped. Dearest God. They were meant to meet!
    She shoved the book back at him, still on her knees, and frantically opened it to the first page, her hands almost trembling in excitement. “You have no idea how long I have waited to meet someone who can speak English.” She pointed at the book. “Might you translate a few words? Can you tell me if it is a romantic novel? One with a happy ending?”
    He searched her face.
    She tapped at the page. “Cease being a man and read it.”
    He took the book from her hands, still kneeling on the ground beside her, and glanced at the golden letters on the front leather binding of the book. “ Candide: or The Optimist by Voltaire.” He edged it open. “’Tis actually a translation. I read this in French some time ago. It was quite good. I enjoyed it.”
    “Did you? What was it about?”
    He flipped to another page, where an array of words started the first line of the book. He silently read, his brows coming together.
    Thérèse leaned in, peering down at the page and then up at him. She waited.
    He continued reading intently in concentrated silence. Time passed. He rapidly blinked, then turned the page and read on.
    She elbowed him. “If you keep at it, you will read the whole book twice. What does it say?”
    He slapped the book shut and shoved it into her basket. “Allow me to sum up the story. It is all too much like real life. Candide’s love for Cunégonde propels him to abandon paradise, he commits murders in her name, avoids execution and when they can at long last be together, he no longer wants her.” He gave her a pointed look.
    Thérèse swallowed. After waiting years to learn about its contents, it appeared the happy couple had been carrying a foray of mockery.
    She veered her gaze away, grabbing up a dirt streaked gown and her cousin’s letter that held the address she was supposed to travel to. “So much for marital secrets,” she grouched. “And yet again, another male writer rips apart the glory of love and happy endings in a book. What do you men have against love and happy endings anyway?”
    He lifted his gaze to hers, an arrested expression settling onto his rugged features. His square jaw tensed visibly. “Nothing. We simply recognize that they can be dangerous to a man. It gives him too much hope, and some men need more than hope. They need a full guarantee.”
    She swallowed. That was certainly a confession she did not expect.
    His brow creased. “So this is, in fact, real. You really are heading to Paris to be an actress.”
    She blinked. “Yes, of course. What— Was there any doubt?”
    “A part of me was worried you had been hired by the gendarmerie nationale .”
    The…oh. Oh ! “No. I…no, no, no. I…no. I would never work for men like that. Not given all the murders and the butchering they do. I am nothing more than an aspiring actress trying to get to Paris.” She poked at each cheek to emphasize how real she was. “See? Nothing nefarious here.”
    He intently searched her face, his masculine mouth softening. “Your appearance into my life is unprecedented.” His steel blue eyes smoldered as if he were finally introducing her to who he really was. “Do you know how many times I kept thinking I was going to die? And how every person that crossed my path only brought me closer to death? Do you know what that does to your mind?”
    Her throat ached.
    He hesitated and leaned in, searching her face. “Kiss me.”
    And she thought she was overly forward in nature.
    She leaned far back and