Rebecca Hagan Lee - [Borrowed Brides 01] by Golden Chances Read Free Book Online

can only mean one thing.”
    “That I was tired and now I’m hungry?” Reese suggested.
    “That your lady friend kept you up very late and that you did a lot more than carry on polite conversation.”
    “Actually, I did have dinner and some polite conversation,” Reese informed his cousin.
    “Save that line for her angry father, brother, fiancé, or husband. I know you too well.” David grinned at Reese. “You’re still in your evening clothes and you were snoring on the couch. What time did you stumble in?”
    “I stumbled in, as you put it, at half-past midnight and please keep your laughter at a minimum and your voice lowered. There’s a woman sleeping in the room next door.”
    “In your room? Alone?”
    “It was better than allowing her to sleep on a bench in the train station.” Reese stood up and stretched, working his head from side to side to remove the kinks in his neck. “Where is that damn waiter with the coffee?”
    “You spent the night on that godawful sofa when you had a warm woman in your bed?” David answered the knock on the door.
    A waiter stood in the doorway with a tray of steaming coffee.
    “That’s right,” Reese muttered as he joined David at the door.
    He took the tray and handed the man a silver dollar. “Hurry up with breakfast,” he ordered before David could respond.
    David closed the door behind the waiter, watching as Reese set the coffee on the table in front of the sofa.
    “Is that all you plan to tell me?” David couldn’t hide his burning curiosity.
    “That’s it. At least, until I’ve had my morning coffee. Sit down. I’ll pour you a cup.”
     
    * * *
     
    Faith snuggled deeper into the warmth of the covers dreaming of the time before the war when the sound of her brothers’ good-natured arguments filled the morning air and the tantalizing aroma of coffee wafted through the house. She turned and stretched luxuriously in the big bed, her warm arms sliding across the crisp, cool sheets next to her. She was alone.
    Her eyes flew open to focus on the bedroom wall. The wallpaper was strange. The flowers on it were different from the faded flowers on her bedroom wall. And where was Joy? There was too much room in the bed. She could move around, even stretch, without touching the warm, little body that was normally sprawled all over her. What was going on?
    The house smelled of coffee, real coffee, and it had been years since she’d been able to buy genuine beans.
    Pushing the covers aside, Faith sat on the edge of the bed. She shivered with cold and looked around for her clothes. Her dress was nowhere in sight, but a dark, brown velvet robe lay across the foot of the bed. Faith slipped it on and padded across the cold floor to open the bedroom door.
    She stopped dead at the sight of the two men seated on the sofa drinking coffee.
    The memory of the evening spent in the company of Reese Jordan flashed through Faith’s mind and the warmth of a blush stained her face a vivid pink.
    Reese lowered his coffee cup and focused on the vision before him.
    David nearly dropped his cup. It wobbled on the saucer, sloshing hot coffee on his hand.
    She stood in the doorway. Her dark hair had slipped out of its pins. It hung past her slim shoulders to her hips. Her gray eyes were wide; her lips were red and slightly swollen from sleep. She was engulfed by Reese’s brown, velvet robe, completely covered from her chin to the tops of her bare feet, yet Reese wondered if he had ever seen a woman look quite so desirable, so kissable. She looked as if she had just come from her lover’s bed. His bed.
    “Good morning.” Reese greeted her in a voice that sounded remarkably normal. “Sleep well?”
    “Yes, I suppose so. Thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    Faith’s fingers tightened on the lapels of his robe as she studied her toes peeking out from under the hem. She was extremely aware of the intimacy of the situation, of Reese Jordan’s hot gaze, and of her threadbare shift