Desired by a Lord (Regency Unlaced 5) by Carole Mortimer Read Free Book Online Page B

Whitney’s long fingers stroking her to release.
    Emily had never dreamed… Had never imagined there was such ecstasy to be had within the depths of her own body.
    Perhaps she should feel ashamed for having touched herself so intimately. Her nursemaid, when she was growing up, had certainly told her it was a sin even to look at her own body, let alone touch it. Instead of shame, Emily now longed to experience that pleasure again.
    “Emily?”
    She raised startled lids, having no idea how long she had been lost in the memories of last night’s pleasure. “My lord?”
    Xander’s mouth tightened at the return of the formality. “I will see you at dinner this evening.”
    He had no idea what thoughts had been going through Emily’s head these past few minutes. Whatever they were, they had brought a flush to her cheeks, and her eyes had glittered with fever when she looked at him.
    She was a strange creature. One minute so prim and proper, the next as skittish as an unbridled mare. If he did not know Emily had been a married woman for five years, Xander would think… But no, Marsden might have been a man in his fifties, but he could not have failed to see and appreciate the beauty and sensuality of his young wife. To have taken every opportunity to enjoy that sensuality.
    As Xander now wished to do.
     
    Emily’s equilibrium was completely returned to her by the time she joined Whitney that evening in the green salon before dinner.
    “Have you had a pleasant day?” he enquired politely.
    “I have, thank you.” She nodded. “You?”
    “The same,” he drawled before taking a sip from his glass of sherry, Emily having refused to join him.
    Emily’s day had been productive—and undisturbed—as she immersed herself in cataloguing the farming journals into her ledger. After enquiring, and at her request, Clarke had served luncheon to her there on a tray. He had also provided, unasked, tea and cakes in the late afternoon. She had taken another walk in the garden after tea, this time without glimpsing the specter that had haunted and disturbed her yesterday.
    Whitney had been true to his word and remained away all day on estate business.
    All in all, it had been a very pleasant day .
    Except an increasingly tense silence now seemed to have fallen between herself and Whitney.
    He appeared relaxed as he sat in the armchair opposite her own, and his evening apparel of black with snowy white linen was as elegant as ever. Even so, Emily sensed a maelstrom of emotions churning behind his hooded gaze, which caused her to watch him warily in return.
    “Is something amiss?” she finally felt compelled to ask.
    “Nothing more than usual,” he dismissed.
    “Which is?”
    He shrugged. “I do not enjoy living in the country.”
    “Then why—” Emily bit her bottom lip as she realized she was delving into personal matters, something she had pledged to herself she would not do. The only way she could continue to work here was if she kept a polite distance between herself and Whitney.
    “Why am I here?” Xander stood up restlessly. Indeed, it was a restlessness which had dogged him all day.
    He had dutifully accompanied his estate manager on a tour of the fields planted with winter crops. Made himself smile and listen to the complaints or otherwise of the tenants on his estate. To behave graciously when they visited the village tavern for luncheon. Before having to endure more of those infernal visits to his tenants.
    And all the time he did so, he had wondered what Emily was doing. If she was safe using the ladder. Whether anyone had thought to provide her with luncheon. If anything had happened to disturb her today.
    If she is thinking of me in the same way I am thinking of her.
    Such behavior was completely out of character for him, and not to be tolerated.
    He took another swallow of sherry before answering Emily’s unfinished question. “My father’s death four months ago gave me little choice in the matter.”
    “I