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

coffee without tasting it. But not everything she wanted.
    That one dance with Dai stayed with her. Those few minutes reminded her what was missing in her life, and she couldn’t blame the sudden realization on being caught up in the moment, not when she caught herself wondering what would’ve happened if Brigit hadn’t walked in. Would he have kissed her? In her mind he did, and she enjoyed it. And she wasn’t sure she liked what that meant. How could she wear her wedding ring and think of Dai?
    “So, how is married life going?” she asked, hoping for a distraction from the unsettling line of thought. But she was aware Dai was in the house and when she saw him she didn’t know what she’d do. Maybe whatever had happened existed only in that stolen moment and he’d be just another man who would fail to spark any lust.
    It had been a long time since any man had been able to arouse any interest. Yet he slipped under her skin with a smile, and she hadn’t felt a thing until her blood began to heat. Once she looked into his eyes, she had trouble looking away. There was something about him…like he was a mystery to unravel.
    “Good,” Eliza said with a small smile and a nod. “Really good.” She raised her eyebrows a fraction for emphasis.
    “I don’t need those details.” Although ever since the wedding, Dai creeped into her thoughts, and one imagined kiss led to other things. She cut off the thought before it had time to grow. She wasn’t a teenager full of unrestrained hormones that needed to be released. No, hers had packed up sometime before Brigit’s birth. Their return was poorly timed.
    Even though questions rested at the end of her tongue, she couldn’t ask about Dai without Eliza getting the wrong idea. The last thing she needed was Eliza playing matchmaker, so she asked about Roan, hoping Eliza would reveal something about Dai in the process. Something that would quell the attraction she’d forgotten could exist when looking at a man. Too often looks didn’t match the reality.
    “How does Roan like Australia?”
    “He likes it. It’s very different from where he grew up.” Eliza focused on her cookie as if it was the last one in the world. She wasn’t lying, but she was hiding something.
    “He’s not going to drag you back to Wales, is he?”
    “No. He has no plans to go back.”
    Amanda took a sip of her coffee while she thought. She only flew back to Sydney once a year so her mother could see Brigit, but she still went back because family was important—even if she was more than ready to leave after a few weeks. Her father didn’t recognize her, and hadn’t for years, and her mother acted happy, but more than a decade of playing caregiver was sapping her strength. Last time she’d visited she’d found a pair of men’s running shoes that weren’t her father’s. Her mother was having an affair. She should hate her for betraying her father like that, but he wouldn’t care. He didn’t even know who he was anymore.
    “What about his family?”
    “Except for Dai, all dead.”
    “Really?” No one could lose all their family. There were always aunts and uncles and cousins.
    “Mother died in childbirth, father of natural causes…”
    “And?” Amanda prompted, sure she was about to get a piece of important information about the King men.
    Eliza lowered her voice. “His sister died when he was young.”
    So that was the family secret, one that must have torn them apart. “That’s awful. How old was she?”
    “Eleven.”
    Amanda shivered; she’d been only a few years older than Brigit. Losing Brigit would kill her. “How did she die?”
    “Dai mentioned her in passing but then wouldn’t say anything more. They never talk about her,” Eliza said with a look that meant Amanda shouldn’t talk about her either.
    People reacted differently to grief. She talked about Matt. She wanted Brigit to grow up knowing who her father was, even though she’d never met him. Matt had swept