Elisabeth Fairchild by Captian Cupid Read Free Book Online

fall.”
    “Too late,” He leaned closer , laughter at play in his voice, in his eyes. “I fear I have already fallen.”
    The suggestion in his voice took her breath away. Like his kiss. Her gaze was drawn to his mouth. She looked away. “Do you read Wordsworth?” she called out to him as she set off.
    “Strange fits of passion have I known:” he quoted, hard upon her heels “and I will dare to tell . . .”
    She stopped. He almost bowled her over, no choice but to catch her in his arms once more with that same brightness of eye that had led to a kiss.
    t" width="But in my lover’s ear alone . . .” he whispered in her ear, the words like the kiss,  firing a dangerous warmth.
    “The Somnambulist?” she asked abruptly, pushing from his arms, stepping away.
    He shook his head. “Don’t know that one.”
    “He tells of a young woman named Emma who fell in love here.”
    “Here? Oh?” His voice still held laughter, and the suggestion of something seductive.
    “With a gentleman named Sir Egremont.”
    “How romantic.”
    She shook her head, dared look him in the eyes again. “A tragedy really. He went away to war before they were wed.”
    His mouth tightened at mention of war. The light in his eyes diminished. “Did he return?” he asked, jaw tight.
    “He did,” she nodded, “to find that in his absence Emma’s mind had come unhinged with worry.”
    He frowned.
    “She had begun to walk in her sleep, and one of the places she walked was here, where they had spent happy moments.”
    His attention was complete, brow furrowed, as if he did not comprehend the implied  connection. She regretted more than ever the imprint of her hand upon his cheek.
    “Did she recover?” he asked.
    Penny sighed. “Hearing of her altered state, he came looking for her the evening of his return. She was here, above the falls. He called her name, startling her.”
    “She fell?” he guessed.
    She nodded.
    His jaw twitched.
    “Broke her neck, and his heart,” she said. “He became a hermit, gave up all his worldly possessions, and lived out the rest of his days in a cave.”
    “A good thing I caught you.” he said, and when she looked at him quizzically, the seductive twinkle returned to his eyes. “I do not care for caves.”

Chapter Six

    “And I do not care to be kissed by strangers.” She turned her back to him.
    “Really?” He cupped her elbow as she stepped over a tree root, leaning close to whisper. “I got the impression otherwise.”
    She turned, blue eyes flashing, the ribbon of rushing water perfect backdrop for the fire in her gaze. The air smelled slightly musky: of wet stone, and molding leaves. His mouth tasted of her. He wanted more. He wanted in that instant for her to be the wanton Val claimed, for if she were, he might have her, and soon.
    “You are mistaken,” she snapped.
    She had not recoiled from his embrace. Her lips had gone deliciously soft beneath his.
    “I am, myself, excessively fond of kisses,” he admitted, refusing to catch the contagion of her anger, curious to see her response.
    The word excessively widened her eyes, and then, lashes sweeping down to hide her surprise, she walked away.
    He stood a moment, admiring the slope of her shoulders, the graceful bend of her waist, the sway of her hips. A trim ankle, she exposed, in lifting her skirts from the wet.
    She called back over her shoulder, “Is this a Cupid’s compliment? Do you kiss anything female that comes within arm’s reach?”
    “Not at all,” he said. “I am very particula”
    “What is your real name?” she demanded without stopping. “I cannot continue to call you Cupid, though Cupid you may consider yourself.”
    “Alexander. Alexander Shelbourne. Same as my father before me.”
    He could not be sure she heard him. On she went, dodging branches, setting a pace that gave him the feeling he chased her, and chase her he would, to set things right between them, to express in some way his gratitude, that she