The Seduction of Miss Amelia Bell by Paula Quinn Read Free Book Online Page B

impatient glance. “Are they in love?” In his line of duty he
     asked questions. He needed to know how the chancellor felt about Miss Bell. If he
     would keep his name from the treaty for her.
    “I…I believe so,” her father said. “The reason he isn’t here has nothing to do with
     my daughter, but with his desire to see his holding fit fer his bride.”
    “Of course,” Edmund replied with an easy smile that did not reach his eyes. “So then,
     she is pleased about the marriage.”
    “Most certainly.”
    Helpful to know that she agreed with the rest of her family, Edmund thought, while
     his eye caught the return of the auburn-haired servant at the doorway. She looked
     toward the table at Lady Selkirk, who was sharing a word with a lass who resembled
     Amelia, save for her pinched lips and swollen belly, then hurried back in the direction
     from which she came. This time it was Lucan who’d caught sight of her and took up
     his steps to follow her. Malcolm was nowhere to be seen, likely catching the eye of
     some other lass who wasn’t busy spying for her mistress.
    When Amelia finally reappeared, she, too, looked toward the table, then decided against
     returning to it. She headed off in the opposite direction.
    “He loves her.”
    “What?” Edmund turned to her father.
    “The lord chancellor,” Lord Selkirk repeated. “He loves my daughter. He’s assured
     me of it.”
    “I’m pleased to hear it,” Edmund told him. Loving her meant that the chancellor would
     do as they ordered while she was in Edmund’s custody and not sign.
    “Even her accursed ill fortune has not deterred him from seeking to win her favor.
     Alas, she has driven off more suitors than I can count.” He sighed, catching sight
     of her across the hall. “But they were fools. All but Lord Seafield. He has…”
    Edmund stopped listening when Amelia’s path was intercepted by a stern-faced lord
     who looked older than her father, but was still fit enough to pose a threat. “Who
     is that man speaking with yer daughter?”
    Her father peered around Edmund’s arm to have a look. “That is Lord Bedford, my Eleanor’s
     husband. She is expecting their first child within the next…”
    When Bedford clutched Amelia’s arm, Edmund left her father’s side without hearing
     the rest.
    He didn’t rush to her side, but advanced quietly, seeking to catch a bit of their
     conversation, which seemed to be growing more heated each moment.
    “I will return to my mother in a moment, Bedford,” Amelia insisted, pulling on her
     arm for him to let go.
    “She insists that you return now.” He yanked her forward. “Before you crash into a
     candle stand and set the house aflame.”
    Amelia dug her heels into the floor, and with a flick of her lashes, her dark eyes
     scored his flesh. “Do ye manhandle my sister, as well?”
    “There is no need.” He leaned toward her and practically growled in her face. “She
     is not undisciplined as you are, and does as she’s told.”
    “What a pity for ye then,” she said, somehow regaining her complete composure, or
     seeming to. The fire in her eyes still burned, igniting Edmund’s blood.
    Her brother-in-law laughed, a haughty, lordly sound. “Where is the pity in having
     a dutiful wife?”
    “She ends up with a terribly bored husband,” Edmund said, reaching them.
    Bedford turned, startled by his sudden appearance. “Lord Essex.”
    Edmund clasped his hands at his back and tipped his head. “Lord Bedford,” he greeted
     pleasantly. “I’m certain that as tempting the prospect of being dragged across the
     length of this hall is fer Miss Bell, she would not be averse to me escorting her
     back to her mother.”
    “Of course, my lord.” Bedford released her with a smile and scurried off.
    Edmund could feel her eyes on him. He’d felt them surveying him from the moment he’d
     spoken, driving him mad with the desire to look at her. When they were alone, he finally
     did. He kept