Read His Jilted Bride (Historical Regency Romance) for Free Online Page B

and Alex being his heir and all. Then Weenie
was the youngest, and his only daughter.” He shrugged. “I would
never say that I didn't feel any attachment at all for him or him
for me. I certainly did, but I just wasn't as close to him as the
other two. Neither was Henry.”
    “ Because you had each other,” she murmured again between
bites.
    “ I suppose so. I never really thought about it that way, but
now that I've said it, I suppose you're right.”
    “ I usually am,” Amelia retorted, smiling. Something about the
way Elijah looked at her in return made her smile falter. There was
a certain intensity in his eyes she hadn't expected to see just
then. She cleared her throat and shifted. “Where do you plan for us
to go now?”
    Elijah lifted a single
brow.
    “ Certainly you didn't expect us to live out the rest of our
lives here with your friend Lord Templemore, did you?”
    “ Well, no,” Elijah conceded, twisting his lips into an
overdone frown and nodding once. “But if you'd like to, I'm sure
arrangements could be made...”
    Amelia shook her head and grinned.
“No. And I wouldn't think you'd like that, either.”
    “ No, I wouldn't like to live out the rest of our lives here,
but—” his voice dropped to little more than a soft whisper— “I see
no reason to leave immediately.”
    Amelia's breath caught and she nearly
lost hold of her tart. “Y-you don't?”
    ***
    Elijah wanted to laugh at her naivety.
“No, I don't,” he whispered, leaning toward her.
    “ Wh-what are you doing?”
    This time Elijah did laugh—inwardly,
anyway. He'd never be so ill-mannered as to humiliate her by
actually laughing at her innocence. “Just relax,” he murmured,
leaning in toward her again.
    Her nervous giggle was the equivalent
of her throwing her hands up to stop him. He frowned at her. “Is
something humorous?”
    “ N-no,” she said. There wasn't laughter lacing her voice any
longer, but neither was her tone as soft as usual.
    He ignored the uncertainty stamped on
her face and pressed forward, closing the gap between them. His
lips found hers and she pulled away. Not to be deterred, he brought
his hand up to cup her face and held her still while he leaned in
for another kiss.
    Unfortunately, this one was far less
satisfactory than the one yesterday. He pushed the thought from his
mind and kissed her again, but missed her lips and kissed her cheek
when she moved her head to evade him.
    “ I don't think this is a good time,” she said with a slight
hitch in her voice.
    “ No, it's the perfect time.” He tucked a tendril of her fallen
hair behind her ear, then swallowed his unease and brought his lips
to hers again.
    Hard and unyielding, kissing Amelia
was what he imagined kissing a stone would be like. He fought the
urge to frown and continued to kiss his marble statue.
    “ Amelia,” he said, pulling back. “Kiss me back.”
    Her cheeks flushed. “I
can't.”
    “ Yes, you can. First you need to relax your lips, then you
need to mirror my actions,” he said, leaning toward her for what he
hoped would be the final time.
    “ I-I don't think so.” She pulled away from him and put her
fingers to his lips to stop him from kissing her again.
    Elijah's hand slowly encircled her
wrist and pulled her hand away from his face. “Is something wrong?”
he murmured half-heartedly.
    “ No, not wrong.” She bit her lower lip and let her eyes wander
the room. “This just really isn't the time.”
    Elijah wanted to groan. For a young
lady who'd once made it a habit to chase him around the lawn,
trying to kiss him, she sure didn't seem too interested in kissing
him when the time was finally appropriate. He raked a hand through
his hair. Considering the circumstances, it was probably for the
best. Likely she was still tired, and for as much as he might be
ready to initiate lovemaking, his friend's house was probably not
the best place.
    From beneath his lashes, Elijah
noticed Amelia was fingering the top of her