Seduced: The Scandalous Virgin by Deborah Hale Read Free Book Online Page A

certain there was no one within earshot. “There is more. I deceived you again when I led you to believe I had prior experience with a man. I knew you would never think of bedding me if you knew I was…a…virgin.”
    The look of shock on his face pierced her conscience to its core. “I am so sorry, believe me! But I knew it might be my only chance to know that kind of pleasure and—”
    Blades raised a hand to bid her be silent. “Then it wasn’t true, about your reputation being ruined?”
    â€œThat part was true, I’m afraid. I was caught kissing a young officer in the garden one evening. He offered to marry me but I refused. I was afraid I might come to love him only to have him sent to war. Father was furious. He said I’d disgraced him with my impropriety and I must go to live with Aunt Millicent in England. The truth is I never did more than kiss a man before I took up with you.”
    Blade’s dumbfounded stare had gradually changed to a befuddled grin. Now he found his voice again. “My dear Genia, you talk as if this will alter the way I feel about you or my resolve to marry you. I assure you it does not, except for the better. Now I can wed you without feeling like a fortune hunter.”
    As she struggled to believe what she’d just heard, he gathered her into his arms, as if to demonstrate he no longer cared who saw them together in such a compromising position.
    He did exercise enough discretion to whisper his next words in her ear, rather than cry them at the top of his lungs. “Few things could please me more than knowing I have been your first and only lover. But there is one. Please, my darling, say you’ll marry me. We may be two black sheep, cut off from our families, but I reckon we can make our way in the world together. Indeed, I look forward to the challenge and the opportunity to prove myself.”
    After everything she had told him, in spite of all it would cost him, Blade still wanted her? More than ever Genia felt unworthy of him, in a way that had nothing to do with rank or fortune. She leaned into his embrace, elated yet frightened at the same time. There were other ways to lose a loved one, she realized—ways that could hurt even more than bereavement.
    What if Blade did not succeed in spite of his newfound confidence and her belief in him? What if he came to regret the breech with his family of which she was the cause? What if he came to blame and resent her—being parted by death would be a mercy compared to that.
    Then a bright flicker of the evening star on the horizon caught her attention. It reminded her of the mischievous twinkle she had often seen in Margaret’s eye. She fancied the ocean breeze carried an echo of her friend’s sweet laughter.
    â€œBuck up, Genia!” they seemed to say. “This sounds like an adventure. And every adventure has its risks. Dare to be in love and happy. You know it is what I always wanted for you”
    As she drew back to give Blade her answer, the thought of her dear friend and her own deep joy brought tears to her eyes.
    Perhaps thinking they signaled her refusal, Blade looked utterly bereft.
    Genia pushed past the lump in her throat. “If you want me, I am yours! I know you have it in you to make a great success of anything you undertake. That includes marriage.”
    As they sealed their betrothal with a deep, ardent, tender kiss, the evening star seemed to sparkle brighter than ever.
    â€œLet us go announce our engagement to our fellow passengers,” said Blade at last, “and see if there is enough wine left in the Hartwell’s stores to drink a toast!”

Epilogue
    Two years later
    As he stood beside his darling wife at the baptismal font of his family’s private chapel, Blade thought back upon his voyage from the Indies as the great turning point in his life. After Genia’s first introduction to his parents, he’d doubted they