The Reluctant Suitor by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss Read Free Book Online Page B

would you suggest?”
    His eyebrow quirked with some amusement. “Come now, Adriana, our parents have not only lived near each other for nigh on to thirty or more years, but they have been intimate friends since well before I came into the world. My goodness, I even remember the day you were born and the fuss I made carrying in the flowers Mother had picked from her conservatory when she took Samantha and me over for a peek at the newborn. You were the tiniest, reddest, most outraged little creature I had ever seen in my life. Can you not agree that the close camaraderie of our families allows us some privileges above the usual stilted decorum of strangers?”
    Adriana was convinced that he had plied many light-of-loves with similar persuasive reasoning. As handsome as he was, she could imagine that he had grown quite adept at swaying besotted young maids from the path their parents had urged them to follow. He did seem to have a way about him, and she could not fault any woman for falling under his spell, for she found to her amazement that her heart was not so distantly detached as she might’ve imagined it to be. Even his deep, mellow voice seemed like a warm caress stroking over her senses.
    Shaking off the effects of his winning smile, Adriana took herself mentally in hand and reminded herself of what she’d likely suffer once the truth came out, at the very least the pain of his rejection. Better to remain aloof and save some minute portion of her pride against that coming day, she reasoned. “I’m afraid, my lord, that your lengthy absence has made us that very thing. Strangers we have become, and I fear there’s no remedy to be found in the space of a few moments or even a matter of hours.”
    The tantalizing channels in his cheeks deepened as he offered her a smile that seemed every bit as persuasive as it once had been. “Will you not relent, Adriana?”
    Staring into those darkly translucent eyes that had ensnared her own, Adriana felt as if she were being swept back in time to her childhood. As a young girl, she had absolutely adored Colton Wyndham. He had been the brother she had never had, a hero second only to her father, a knight more worthy than any of whom she had either read or heard. Then had come the fateful day she had learned he wanted no part of her. The question that remained was whether he’d react any differently today once he realized that nothing had changed during his absence.
    Colton argued his case unrelentingly. “If you insist upon rejecting my plea, Adriana, then I’m left wondering if I must restrict myself to the stiltedness of addressing you in like manner. Considering the close ties of our families, does it not seem ridiculous that we should be held to such rigid reserve?”
    “Far be it for me to presume upon your forbearance, my lord. Whether or not you adhere to a strict code of gentlemanly conduct is entirely limited to your discretion.”

    “Ouch!” Colton feigned a grimace and clasped a lean, brown hand to his scarlet blouse as if denoting the place where she had wounded him. “I must confess that my conduct has not always been displayed in proper form, Adriana. Still, as much as I once deserved to be socially cut from your presence, I thought I had managed to learn a few manners over the years.”
    “I wouldn’t know anything about that, my lord. You’ve been gone half your lifetime and most of mine.”
    “Aye, that I have,” he admitted, “and though I had expected changes in my absence, I never once thought I’d have to be so confoundedly reserved with the youngest daughter of my family’s closest friends.”
    “Your marquessate gives you leave to do as you please, my lord.”
    Colton sighed in vexation and, leaning on his cane, folded his free arm behind his back as he gazed down into the face of the delectable beauty. “My dear Adriana, you look like something a lonely man far from home would dream about in the wee hours of the morning. Had I been able