Broken Legacy (Secret Lives Series) by Colleen Connally Read Free Book Online

contemplating the situation. “I am not accustomed to baring my soul to others, Eloise, and especially with such a delicate subject. Yes, the children are mine, but it changes nothing.”
    Eloise shook her head unconsciously. “No,” she contradicted him. “It changes everything. It matters to me.”
    “Why? I haven’t lied to you. They are children, for God’s sake! I would have thought you, out of everyone, it would not have mattered!” He threw the words at her angrily. He gazed so deeply that she turned from him and stared at the wall.
    “It matters to me,” she answered, ignoring his insinuation of her birth. “How dare you! You who threatened my family. It does. It changes everything. You want me to act only to your wants, as all of this is some sort of game where I'm not to know the rules. This is no game. There is no need to treat me like I'm the enemy. There was no need to threaten me. Do you think I’m so heartless that I would not extend my hand to help if I could?"
    "You are telling me you would have easily complied ? I don't believe you," he said severely. "You expected me to outpour my deepest thoughts to someone I have only just met."
    “Yet, it’s acceptable to marry me," she countered.
    "I need your connections, no more!"
    “But it is not me you should be worried about. Do you understand what you are facing and the odds that are against you? You say you have been across the Channel…”
    “I know, my lady. I know well enough!” Lenister uttered loudly in exasperation. The room hushed. An eerie silence ensued before he repeated in a murmur, “I know well this is no game. I do. In all, I have need of you and in your own way, you have need of me. Only, you don’t comprehend it…yet.”
    “So you are planning to return?” she asked. The sarcasm echoed in her tone. 
    “You are an odd one, Lady Eloise. I’m confused as to whether you are upset because you are to marry me or upset with the idea of what could happen to me across the Channel.”
    " Odd?" she challenged. Her hands threw the letter in the air. Her eyes flamed. She bounded off the bed. She picked up an empty vase on her dresser. She threw it at him. Ducking, the porcelain broke into a million pieces. "Get out! Get out!" she screamed. Her eyes frantically searched for another object to throw at him. She reached for her water pitcher, but his arms had hold of her. "Let go of me!"
    "Calm yourself," he said, switching his grip to get a better hold. She pushed against him, but he was too strong.
    “I can't be calm. You should listen to your cousin's warning. She is right. Do you not think I realize that the ton wants nothing more than to shun me? They are not without their reasons, monsieur, more so than they even know. You think you know me…Edmund thinks he knows me…you may well regret your decision…in all, you may have made a dreadful mistake in wanting to marry moi ."
    He took hold of her and sat on the bed, pulling her down with him. "Sit." For a time he kept looking at her , and her eyes lowered. Those eyes seemed to look into her soul. He reached for her, lifting her chin up with his fingers. The tension eased and her anger melted with his touch.
    "So you feel trapped," he said softly. “Like a bird in a cage, a beautiful bird. I see an exquisitely beautiful and indisputably intelligent wom an who, in her actions, wants nothing more than to disappear from Society.”
    “I don’t fit into their world…your world.”
    “I beg to differ. I believe you will fit nicely into my world. True, I don’t shun Society and quite enjoy it at times, but I like my solitude. I spend a great deal of time in Northampton at my country estate. I believe you will enjoy it also, far away from prying eyes. And also the coastline, which may interfere with your smuggling. Although I’m afraid, I must insist we put an end to such.”
    “As you wish.”
    Suddenly, he laughed again, a  hearty laugh, shaking his head. “Convincing, my Lady