Heart of Gold by May McGoldrick Read Free Book Online Page A

taking over. Something she could not control. His hands were working across the skin of her buttocks, working their way toward the juncture of her legs. Against her judgment, against her very will, she thrilled to this act of lovemaking. She was ashamed of herself. But she could not deny it.
    Ambrose couldn’t hold back. Elizabeth’s cascading waves of black silk framed her angelic face. Her cloudy eyes searched his face with curiosity, uncertainty. Her full lips, swollen from his kisses, drew his eyes. He wanted those lips on his body. He wanted to teach her things that her French lover obviously had not. The foolish man. He lifted her by the waist.
    Elizabeth sat up slowly and watched as Ambrose’s hands brushed her hair gently away from her breasts. Then he shifted her weight. Elizabeth looked down as she felt the throbbing member against her. Throbbing to enter her.
    No, she thought in a panic. No! She had to get away. She couldn’t go through with this.
    Everything a blur around her, she leaned backward suddenly and, with a thud, fell heavily into the rushes on the floor.
    Ambrose peered over the end of the bed at Elizabeth, shocked to see the naked beauty scuttling backward away from him.
    His voice had a touch of humor when he spoke. “I’ve made more than a few women wild in my time, but I don’t think I’ve ever driven one stark-raving mad.”
    “I’m not mad,” she whispered, modestly turning to hide her exposed body.
    “Here, lass,” Ambrose called sharply, sitting up. “Watch out for the brazier!”
    Elizabeth scrambled to her feet just before upsetting the coals.
    “What’s wrong?” Ambrose stood, taking a step toward her.
    “Don’t!” Elizabeth shouted, raising her hand pleadingly. “Please don’t.” She looked frantically about for her clothes, grabbing at the first things she could find. “I’m sorry, m’lord...I—”
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” Ambrose said, his tone soothing. She was scared. He couldn’t believe it, but in an instant she’d gone from the heights of passion to the depths of cold desperation. He needed to calm her fears. “I don’t know what that man has done to you. But, that’s him. Not me.”
    Elizabeth fumbled with the oversized shirt as she tried to pull it over her head. “What man?” Her head just wouldn’t go into the sleeve.
    “You are young, beautiful. In fact, stunning. Any man would be a fool not to want you as his own. To treat you better.”
    “I am not just a rose sitting about, waiting to be picked, m’lord. I’ll decide for myself what I want. I’ll make my own choices.” Damn, she thought, hearing the shirt rip.
    “Then why do you stay with one who abuses you? Hasn’t someone ever told you that you deserve better than that?”
    Elizabeth’s head finally appeared through the collar opening. Her hair was in total disarray. “If my well-being is truly a concern to you, then I have to inform you that I am quite self-sufficient.”
    Ambrose’s eyes traveled the length of her as she tried to close the open collar. She looked wonderful in his shirt. “You might think yourself as in charge, lass. But clearly you are not. Just look at you. You are a woman. A beautiful woman who—”
    “There is nothing wrong with that.” Elizabeth snapped.
    “Let me finish,” he growled, silencing her with a glare. “You are a stubborn , beautiful woman who obviously has not been told the difference between what she should tolerate and what she should not. You will never be in charge, Elizabeth, until you are able to recognize and act on that difference.”
    Elizabeth’s head pounded with the thought of all that still lay ahead. “Simply, m’lord. Could you please tell me in simple terms...What the devil you are talking about?”
    “I’m talking about you and your lover, my thick-headed English—”
    “Don’t you dare call me that, you...you... What lover are you talking about?” My God, she was losing her mind. Elizabeth’s brain