Read Online A Necessary Husband by Debra Mullins - Free Book Online Page A

could not win, and take himself off to the village for female companionship. And if not—well, London was full of demireps who might entertain the American. All Lucinda had to do was maintain her position of chastity.
    Easier said than done.
    She arrived at her chamber and reached for the doorknob.
    “Mrs. Devering.”
    She jumped, letting out a little shriek as she whirled around. Garrett leaned against the wall opposite her room, his arms folded across his impressive chest. His dark coat blended in with the shadows, as did his ink-black hair. He grinned, his teeth a flash of white in the semi-darkness, and he moved away from the wall.
    “Calm yourself, Mrs. Devering,” he said as he walked toward her. “Or may I call you Lucinda?”
    When had the hallway gotten so small? She wet her dry lips. “You may call me Mrs. Devering,” she said weakly. “What are you doing here, Captain?”
    “Surely you know the answer to that.” He stopped only inches away and reached for her hand, then raised it to his lips, his eyes fathomless in the dimly lit hallway.
    She should snatch her hand away. She should give him the sharp edge of her tongue. Instead she only whispered, “No.”
    “No?” He cocked his head to the side, his long hair sweeping his shoulders with a soft swish. “No, you do not know the answer? Or are you saying no to something else?”
    “Give me my hand.” She tugged, but he did not release her. “You should not be here.”
    “You knew I would come.” He took a step closer, releasing her hand only to crowd her back against the door of her room.
    “My lord,” she said, “please go. What if someone should see us?”
    “Always the proper English lady,” he teased, and leaned closer. “Tell me, Lucinda, have you ever been tempted to be less than a perfect lady? Haven’t you ever wanted to strip off propriety and give in to your innermost desires?”
    His voice lowered on the last words, vibrating through her with the echo of her unspoken longings. She should be shocked. She should scream or slap him or something , but the image of both of them naked and bared of all inhibitions had taken control of her imagination and would not let it go.
    “You are impertinent,” she managed to say breathlessly, as her body flooded with the heat of long-denied desire.
    “I’m a man,” he corrected. He reached out, stroking his fingers down her cheek. “And you, my dear, are very much a woman.”
    Her knees turned to pudding, and she struggled against the urge to press her lips to the delicious masculine mouth that hovered so close to hers. “How clever of you to notice,” she breathed. “Now that the biology lesson is over, I must change for dinner.”
    “Perhaps you would allow me to assist you.”Those strong fingers trailed down her neck, paused at the pulse that pounded in her throat, then continued down to trace teasingly over her bare shoulder, along the edge of her gown.
    Lucinda clenched her hands into fists at her sides and leaned heavily against the door as her body melted beneath his touch. “Please, I cannot,” she whispered, no longer able to maintain even the slightest façade of resistance. “My lord, I beg you.”
    “Garrett,” he corrected. He leaned in and inhaled the scent of her hair, his mouth hovering above her ear. “I want you, Lucinda.”
    She squeezed her eyes closed as his warm breath swept her ear. “No. Impossible,” she said weakly.
    “Not impossible,” He cupped the back of her head in his big hand and tilted her face back so that she looked at him. “We are adults, you and I. You’re a widow, and I am a man alone in a strange country. Perhaps we can make this trip to London more interesting for both of us. I want to be your lover, Lucinda.”
    The blunt words devastated any arguments she might have summoned. He lowered his head, hesitating for the briefest instant before taking her lips in a sweet kiss laced with unmistakable hunger.
    He kissed the way he did