Marcello & Grace (Royals of Valleria #2) by Marianne Knightly Read Free Book Online Page B

in another braid and covered by the large hat, and the sight of naturally pink lips smiling at him had his heart skip a beat. She was lovely, simply lovely.
     
    Clearing his throat, he said, “You’re more than welcome. So, where are we off to this morning?”
     
    “It’s just a little further down. I’ve been working on a little garden and vegetable patch out here. I thought, since no one else would be up, that I’d spent some time there this morning.” She stopped walking and it took Marcello a few steps to realize that she had. He looked back at her with a quizzical expression.
     
    “Would you rather go inside?” she asked. “I can have breakfast prepared for you if you like.”
     
    Marcello stepped towards her slowly and intently. “I would much rather be out here with you, enjoying this beautiful morning. Shall we?” he asked as he held out his arm for her to take.
     
    After a few moments, one of her hands slowly slid around his elbow and they began walking again, arm in arm. Her fingers were light, and barely grazed the half-sleeve of his shirt. He could feel her tense beside him and he wasn’t sure how to resolve it.
     
    Keeping his voice light and his pace slow, he began to ask about the estate and the various buildings he saw, keeping up her commentary from earlier. Slowly, as she began to talk of the familiar, her hand relaxed more against the unfamiliar.
     
    “We’re heading for a garden just over there,” she said gesturing with her head down another path.
     
    “Where does the other path lead?” he asked.
     
    “Another garden,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Though the flowers have all but left at this point in the season.”
     
    “I’d still like to see it.”
     
    “I’d rather you stay to the paths nearest the house, if you don’t mind.” Her arm slipped from his and he wondered why she was pulling away from him. What lay in the other garden that made her so defensive?
     
    As she began to walk ahead of him, Marcello called her back. “Grace,” he said softly. She stopped walking but didn’t turn towards him, so he walked forward to stand in front of her.
     
    He slowly raised his hand, making sure it was within her sight, and gently tipped her chin up so their eyes met. The blue of her eyes were so pale they were almost translucent, and emotion lay heavy within them. He wondered what she saw naked in his own eyes.
     
    “I would never hurt you, Grace, or go against your wishes,” he said in an even voice. “And I won’t intrude on your privacy, however much I’d like to.” He didn’t add that, to a certain extent, he had already intruded by studying layouts of the house and grounds.
     
    Her eyes widened and she swallowed. Marcello followed the line of her throat as she did and had to reign in his need to pull her close. Instead, his fingers left her chin to caress her throat and the delicate collarbone peeking through the neck of her shirt. Her breath caught.
     
    She stepped back and Marcello’s hand fell away. “I appreciate your consideration of my feelings,” Grace said.
     
    Marcello cursed inwardly. If she was resorting to formality again, they were moving backward, not forward. He stepped towards her.
     
    “Will you tell me one day why the other garden means so much to you?”
     
    A flash of fear crossed her eyes and she began to fiddle with the basket in her hand. “It’s not that, not at all,” she said as she walked around him and down the path. “It’s best if you stay close to the house. It’s easy to get lost on the paths and with the rains we get this time of year, well, I’m just concerned for your safety, that’s all.”
     
    Marcello had caught up to her while she had babbled out a response. He gently placed a hand on her arm and she jumped back. “I’m not going to hurt you, Grace,” he said again. “You can count on that. Trust it, because it’s true.”
     
    As he closed the distance between them he said, “But there