Seduced by a Pirate by Eloisa James Read Free Book Online Page B

must speak with you.”
    Her husband was at the window, staring down at the lake and the fields beyond. He turned around slowly, leaning on his cane.
    For a second she just stared, as if seeing him for the first time. Griffin was so much bigger, so much more manly than she could have imagined. Paradoxically, the fact that he was wounded didn’t diminish his ferocity; instead she had the feeling that she was looking at a wounded lion nursing his paw, but ready to spring at any moment.
    As dangerous as he ever was.
    Even his dark blond hair lent itself to that vision. Although it was cut short, it sprang from his scalp like a shorn mane. She was stricken by an edgy awareness that sent a flush of heat to her face, but she straightened her backbone.
    She had to protect her children.
    “Hello, Phoebe,” Griffin said, as if she barged into his bedchamber every day. “May I offer you a seat?” He took two steps toward the fireplace, leading with his stick, and pulled forward one of the armchairs.
    Phoebe sat, since it would be impolite not to. “I came to inform you that my son will never go to sea, and it is reprehensible and irresponsible of Mr. Sharkton to discuss the possibility with him.”
    Griffin leaned against the back of the chair opposite her and raised an eyebrow. “Mothers make rules, but children don’t always agree.”
    “Colin may be entranced by the idea of piracy now—and I regret to say that your arrival will only exacerbate that—but in time he will outgrow it.”
    “What would you like him to do with his life?”
    “Something safe,” she flashed. “Something in England, perhaps in Bath.”
    “So you see him as a merchant?”
    Of course she saw Colin as a member of her own class, rather than one of the gentry or above, whom she privately considered to be ne’er-do-wells. “Yes,” she said, keeping her gaze steady. “I would much prefer that Colin earn an honest wage, whether he owns a business or works in one.”
    To her surprise, Griffin nodded. He must have seen a flicker of disbelief on her face, because he added, quite reasonably, “You may not like the way I have earned a living, Phoebe, but I assure you that I worked very hard for it. I know the value of money.”
    She didn’t want to think of him in a positive light. “We must discuss how we will dissolve this marriage,” she said, setting aside the topic of childrearing for the larger one. “I think it will be a relatively simple matter, since it was never consummated. I know there are provisions for that sort of thing.”
    His eyes darkened, and Phoebe instinctively straightened. Griffin’s blue eyes were like a summer sky: they told her a storm was coming. “You truly want to dissolve our marriage?” Not a trace of anger colored his voice, and his expression hadn’t changed. But . . .
    “You needn’t be angry about it,” she said, meeting his eyes squarely.
    “I am not angry.”
    “You are lying to me, and I most dislike falsehoods. I would judge you furious, and without merit, I might add. I am not the one who absented myself from the country for years.”
    “I apologize. You are correct. I do not wish to dissolve our marriage, and I find the idea . . . annoying.”
    If that look in his eye was annoyance, she’d hate to be in the vicinity if he lost his temper.
    Griffin was also thinking that he might have understated his reaction to her suggestion. “We could not dissolve the marriage on the grounds of non-consummation,” he said, keeping his voice even only with effort.
    “Why not?”
    “Because it would label the children as bastards.” Really, he felt he was behaving in a remarkably enlightened fashion. It was all very well for Shark to talk about a woman’s right to dally with other men, but Griffin himself was finding the whole concept quite difficult to come to terms with.
    “Further, annulling the marriage would mean that I swore to being impotent,” he added. “And I’ve been impotent only once