A Secret Affair by Valerie Bowman Read Free Book Online Page A

Don’t get your hopes up? Why would she get her hopes up? What could he possibly—?
    “Oh hell.” Charlie muttered the curse under his breath two seconds before he pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her.
    Frances closed her eyes. She couldn’t have been more astonished. This was Charlie. Charlie Holloway. They were in the Chathams’ library, and he was kissing her. His mouth moved over hers so light and tender at first, warm, smooth. Then his arms wrapped around her back and he tugged her closer, and the kiss became something altogether different. His mouth slanted across hers, hot and wet. His tongue pushed open her lips to plunge inside. His hand, strong, warm, pulled her sharply against him, and Frances’s head tipped back out of sheer force.
    Now this was a kiss. The kind of kiss she’d dreamed about. Exactly what she’d wanted, hoped for. She wasn’t about to misuse the opportunity. She wrapped her arms around his neck, standing up on tiptoe to reach him, and pulled his head down so his mouth would more closely fit to hers. Their tongues tangled, not breaking contact. And Frances couldn’t get enough. It was a kiss for the ages. She was shaking and steamy and hot all over. She did not want it to end.
    Finally, after several minutes, Charlie’s mouth slowed, and he pulled himself carefully away from her. Her hands fell to her sides, and he took a step back. Was he breathing heavily? Surely not as heavily as she. She self-consciously swiped her fingers across her burning lips. Oh, she was not going to be the same after this.
    She looked up at him with wide eyes. “That was absolutely perfect. I so wanted you to be my first kiss.”
    *   *   *
    Charlie stood there panting, willing his overheated body back to normal and his overactive breathing too. Frances had literally stolen his breath. He watched her carefully, silently. She was staring up at him with blue eyes as wide as the bottoms of brandy glasses and looked so vulnerable and pretty.
    Frances was looking at him as if … as if … as if she’d just fallen madly in love with him. The kiss itself had shaken him. To the core. He’d been more moved by it than—ahem—he’d expected to be. His cock was throbbing. He was more aroused than he had any right to be. He’d done this to prove a point. Perhaps to himself. Perhaps to her. He didn’t know any more, but something about the intensity of their kiss scared the hell out of him as did the way she was looking at him.
    Good Lord. He’d just made a huge mistake. But not because she was staring at him in shock and wonder. No. It was much worse than that. It was because he’d felt something. Too much. Why in the bloody hell had he thought this was a good idea again? He could blame Jordan for this somehow, couldn’t he?
    Fear prompted him to speak. He cleared his throat. “Miss Birmingham, Frances, I hope you do not think—”
    She placed a hand on his and squeezed. “Please Mr. Holloway, Charlie. Stop. Don’t say anything more. I should hate for such a perfect moment to be ruined.”
    Capital . She knew he was making a complete ass of himself too.
    Without saying another word, she turned, made her way to the door, and slipped into the corridor.

CHAPTER 10
    “And then what happened?” Annie asked, brown eyes wide, leaning across Mama’s sewing table so far Frances thought she might fall from her seat.
    “And then he … kissed me.” Frances couldn’t control her blush.
    That was it. Annie toppled to the floor. She braced her palms on the rug and quickly scrambled back into her seat again, righting herself and her clothing. “He did what ?”
    Frances squirmed in her chair. “Yes. He kissed me.”
    Annie tossed her hands in the air. “Finally.”
    “No. No. It wasn’t like what you’re thinking.”
    Annie narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?’
    “Well, um. Let’s just say that Mr. Holloway made it quite clear that he is not exactly interested.”
    Annie sniffed.