Kiss of the Goblin Prince by Shona Husk Read Free Book Online

world, but he wasn’t sure how to be part of it. Roan had easily thrown off his past. From Goblin King to husband in days.
    For a moment when he held Amanda he’d thought he could be like Roan and put aside the past and be someone else. A clean slate. But as desire awoke in his veins, it stirred the ancient demons from their sleep and his flesh crawled at the thought of being touched by anyone. There was a reason he’d been celibate in the Shadowlands, even when women came to entertain and fill their pockets with silver.
    He opened his eyes, knowing he couldn’t avoid her, but not knowing what to say. What did she expect from him? It would be much simpler to tell her the truth and walk away before he could see the expression on her face. But that was never going to happen. He was going to have to struggle on and pretend to be normal—whatever the hell that meant.
    If he wasn’t living here, he could avoid her. He wouldn’t have to deal with anyone. Being on his own was becoming more attractive by the moment. He picked up the phone again and rang the real estate agent.

Chapter 4
     
    “Coffee?” Eliza held up a white mug as if she knew Amanda wouldn’t be able to resist the offer.
    After a couple of nights of broken sleep, Amanda would’ve drank anything that vaguely resembled coffee. “Only if the machine is on.”
    She needed it. Between checking on Brigit and peeping out the front window to see if Flynn was watching her house, she’d hardly slept. And when she had, Dai invaded her dreams.
    “It’s always on for you.” Eliza smiled as she got out milk. She was almost glowing. Whatever Roan was doing could only be good. It was about time Eliza had some luck and love in her life after that scumbag Steve destroyed her family’s legal firm. Amanda looked away with a small shake of her head.
    Who was she to judge? She’d married Matt two months after discovering she was pregnant. Hopefully Eliza would have better luck.
    Brigit crossed her arms and stood sullenly with her head turned pointedly away from Amanda. It was her latest phase, the suffering seven-year-old who doled out the silent treatment when she wasn’t getting her way. It could’ve been worse. The fearsome fives had involved many, many tantrums.
    “Can I watch TV, Eliza?” Brigit asked.
    Amanda faked a cough. Brigit had also grown out of her manners.
    She rolled her eyes as only a disgruntled child could. “Please.” The word was loaded for Amanda’s benefit.
    “If you can’t ask politely, you can stay here in the kitchen.” If this was her daughter at seven, what would she be like at seventeen?
    She saw many teenage girls walk through her door with imagined issues, but she also saw the teenagers with real problems on whom everyone else had given up. Even their parents. Some days she wanted to chuck it in and get a job that didn’t suck her dry. But it was part time and during school hours, and she liked to think she was making a difference. That lie was becoming harder to believe after Flynn’s violent robbery.
    “Well, you could’ve sent me to school.”
    “You had a bad night.” Like every other night when she was sick, Brigit struggled to breathe with the asthma squeezing her lungs.
    “I have a cold.” Brigit glared, her lips pressed into a tiny pout. “So what?”
    “Better you stay home instead of spreading your germs.” Amanda gave her daughter a firm glance that Brigit ignored.
    “If I’m well enough to come out—”
    “We can always go home and you can go back to bed.” She’d let Brigit go to school the day before. But after last night, she needed a quiet day. If not at home, then there with Eliza.
    Brigit opened her mouth. She liked having the last word on everything. Maybe Amanda had been too soft and had left reining Brigit in until too late. But it was hard being the only parent and harder to watch her daughter suffer.
    “You can watch TV,” Eliza said, breaking the standoff. In the background, the coffee