Virgin Unwrapped by Christine Merrill Read Free Book Online

his marriage to a proper lady was to be his crowning success and his proof to the upper classes that he was more than a mere tradesman.
    She did not dare speak out now. To cry off would destroy the illusion. She forced a smile and took a sip of her tea. There would be time. Very soon. Twelfth Night at the latest. The moment the guests had departed, when the last carriage had reached the end of the drive, she would tell him that they could not be together.
    Just not now.
    The meal was breaking up, with little clumps of people discussing what the day’s activities might be. And poor, awkward Barbara Lampett was doing her best to escape the table, muttering that she must find a ride back to the village so that she might see to her parents. Joseph had gone to arrange for her transport. If a few more people finished their meals, she might have a moment or two with Robert.
    But before that could happen he shot her a puzzled glare and pushed away from the table with a loud scraping of his chair. Then he almost bolted for the hall as though he could not stand to be alone with her.
    She waited for only a few moments to give the faintest illusion of propriety before excusing herself from the table and hurrying down the hall after him.
    “Robert,” she said softly.
    Instead of looking at her with a smile, he looked immediately around to be sure that she had not been overheard. It was a small and natural act. Yet it reminded her of the risks they took in talking at all. Then, rather than answering, he turned and chose the hall toward the ballroom, away from the most common and popular rooms of the house.
    She followed him without another thought.
    When he was sure they would not be interrupted, he turned and said, “Until you have ended your engagement, we should not meet like this during the day.”
    “But you plan to visit me at night?” she demanded. For though she wished he would, it was all the more wrong to lie with a man who did not wish to acknowledge her outside of the bedroom.
    His expression seemed to melt, going quickly from frustration to confusion, to a soft, loving resignation. “To be with you at all is madness. When you are alone with me, I know your feelings. But to watch you seated at another man’s side? Do you know how that tears at me?”
    “What am I to do?” she said, wishing she did not know the answer.
    “Tell him the truth. I cannot. It would ruin you. And he will not break the engagement. He feels honor bound to continue with it, for your sake. But you have the power to end this. You need not be afraid. It is not a fall from grace if there is someone standing ready to catch you.”
    “My parents would be distraught,” she said, willing him to understand. “And Joseph would be humiliated in front of his guests.”
    “But you will be happy.”
    “Happy without them? Because they will turn their backs on me at Christmas. I will be as dead as Mary to them.”
    Robert shook his head in disgust. “You are dead to them now. But your sister seems to be very much alive. She must have been very cruel to wish such a fate on you.”
    “Certainly not. She was the sweetest, kindest, most generous girl in the world.”
    “Then she would have wanted you to be happy,” he said simply. “I promise I will give you that happiness. Go now and tell Stratford the charade is over. If you do not, then I must leave this house until you do. For I cannot bear another moment of lying about my love for you.”
    “No.” She clung to his arm. “If you leave, you will take what little strength I have with you.”
    “Then run away with me. We will both go.”
    “I cannot. After Christmas, perhaps. Give me but a few days.”
    “It is not as if I am offering you dishonor,” he said patiently. “Quite the opposite. We would be married by special license. My family would welcome you as their own. They are kind and generous, and will be happy for us. I have money. Not as much as Stratford, but more than enough so you