Never Marry a Stranger by Gayle Callen Read Free Book Online Page B

a speculative look. “Will you be fencing Emily with words today?”
    “It might feel that way.”
    “Then enjoy yourself.”
    “Oh, I intend to.”
    Reggie sighed. “I am quite envious.”
    After Reggie left for the stables, Matthew went through the drawing room and outside. Emily was waiting for him at the edge of the terrace. In yellow, she rivaled the hollyhocks lining the gravel path below them. Though it was autumn, the sun shone between puffy clouds, and she only wore a simple black shawl over her gown. Several curls escaped her chignon to flutter in the breeze. She absently pushed one behind her ear, her expression serene, as if with his return, she no longer had any cares in the world. Together, they walked down the marble steps and onto the pathway.
    He took her arm, entwining it with his. She didn’t try to pull away. In fact, she momentarily leaned against him, shoulder-to-shoulder, and hugged his arm to her. Was she thinking of other things a husband and wife did together? He was; his desire for her seemed heightened with the mystery of her.
    “So when I sent you from India,” he said, saving the conversation about their imaginary six months together for another time, “you arrived here ill. Was the sea voyage hard on you?”
    She shook her head. “I have always found the sea quite invigorating.”
    “Ah yes, the family boat,” he said with sudden remembrance. “How terrible of me to force you on another voyage so soon after the death of your family.”
    “I wanted to be with you,” she said almost boldly.
    The jolt of her deep blue eyes hit him hard. She affected him so easily, but she would learn he was not so easily manipulated.
    “And then you heard that I was dead. It must have been…very difficult on my family—and you.”
    “They’d already been notified of your death before I arrived,” she said quietly, tilting up her face as the sun came out from behind a cloud. “It sounds so strange to talk of such things around you. Having cheated death, you seem almost larger than life.”
    Flattery again? It was a good tactic to use on a man.
    “We were all consumed with grief,” she continued. “They are a wonderful family, and they helped me recover in ways I’ll never forget.”
    “And by the way they dote on you, you must have helped them recover, too.”
    She hesitated, then let out a breath. “We all helped each other wait through…the length of a month.”
    She looked determinedly at a distant fountain.
    A month, he mused—and then it dawned on him. The length of a woman’s cycle.
    “They thought you might be with child?” he asked, working hard to hide his amusement.
    “I did not think so, due to the six week length of my voyage, but your mother was so full of hope.”
    He did not want to think of Lady Rosa grieving for him. “When that long wait was over, what then?” he asked. “What did you do here, in mourning?”
    “I became acquainted with your family, of course,” she said. “We women spent much time together sewing and painting.”
    “You’re an artist?”
    “As much as any woman taught the basic skills. I have no great talent,” she admitted, “unlike your sister Susanna. Our evenings were quiet affairs, of course. The immense library here was a great consolation. After a brief leave of absence, your father went back to teaching and his research. Susanna’s quiet sessions sketching at his side seemed to ease him. If only your mother had such a preoccupation.”
    “In mourning, she could not see to Rebecca’s social calendar.”
    A smile tilted the corners of her mouth. “No, but since the spring, she has made up for the lack.” She shot him a speculative look. “Why was your family so surprised that you wanted to go to the dinner tonight?”
    He debated how to answer that, and decided on the truth. “I used to be…rather set in my ways.”
    She laughed aloud, and it was the first time he’d heard her amused. He’d read once about a woman’s