The Love Match (Entangled Scandalous) by Lily Maxton Read Free Book Online

wrenching in his gut. “Miss Middleton? Why?”
    “I think she’d be rather biddable. I’m not certain that Lady Sarah would be. And I find her pleasant enough.”
    Pleasant enough . That didn’t begin to describe her. For the first time in his life, William wanted to strike his childhood friend. “She won’t be biddable,” he ground out.
    “Whatever gave you that impression?” Ash cast him a sidelong glance and cocked his eyebrow.
    “Have you actually had a real conversation with her? She’s not biddable. She’s exasperating and unusual and…and she’s smarter than you are. How many books have you read in your whole life? Five?”
    “ Hmm ,” Ashworth uttered, not offended at all. “Will I be invited to the wedding?”
    “I beg your pardon?” William’s voice rose.
    “Miss Middleton is not one of my choices. I simply wanted to see what you thought of her. And now I know. That love match everyone is so anticipating might be in the making, eh ?”
    It felt as if he’d been dunked headfirst in icy water. His skin went numb. His lungs had trouble drawing in the required amount of air. And when the numbness ebbed, it was replaced with indescribable, potent anger.
    “No. Don’t be a fool,” he managed to bite out, and increased his pace as though his friend were a demon he needed to outrun, lest he be swallowed whole.
    What he felt for Olivia wasn’t love. It was fondness, a fleeting attraction, and that was all.
    That was all he would ever allow it to be.
    …
    When Olivia went to the library late that night, there was no familiar scratching of a pen. No faint candlelight slipping from under the door.
    She stole in like a phantom and sat in an armchair in the corner, the room around her dark except for the single candle she’d brought. She pulled her dressing gown more tightly around her, warding off the autumn chill.
    She waited and waited. Disappointment and annoyance swirled together inside her. And a deep regret. He didn’t want her. Not as much as she wanted him, at least.
    Eventually, her arms and legs grew leaden and she let her eyes close, and she slept. She wasn’t sure how long, but she awoke to a faint noise.
    Her eyes flickered open. At first she couldn’t see anything, and she wondered if the ghost of Lord Ashworth’s grandfather had found her. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mistake her for his murderous wife.
    But then William stepped into the small ring of candlelight, dressed in trousers and boots with a shirt that glowed white. She had to crane her neck to see his face.
    “You’re still here.” His voice was flat.
    “I was reading,” she responded.
    He looked at the table next to her. Bare. His lips thinned.
    But what was she supposed to tell him? She’d fallen asleep waiting for him, alone in the dark? She wasn’t his pet. She wasn’t going to let her night be uplifted or ruined based on whether or not he appeared.
    She rose from the chair.
    But he didn’t step back to allow her room to stand, so when she did, she found her body flush against his, without nearly the amount of clothing needed to separate heat from heat, breasts from a broad chest, soft, curved thighs from hard ones.
    Contact with that tall, strong body made her achingly aware of how they were different. Where they were different.
    “Let me pass.” Her voice was unsteady.
    “You should have left sooner,” he said.
    She didn’t have time to decipher his strange mood, because in the next instant, he lowered his head and took her mouth in a deep kiss.
    Her hands reached up to twist in the collar of his shirt, her knuckles sliding against skin. She didn’t think she’d ever grow tired of kissing him. She loved the softness of his lips; she loved the way he tasted; she loved the slick heat of his tongue and the hard press of his teeth.
    The best thing would be to end it now. She was supposed to go back to her bedchamber. She was supposed to show him that it didn’t matter if he decided to meet her or not. But