Read Rule's Bride for Free Online Page B

and there. Feel free to borrow anything you wish.”
    â€œThank you.” Caroline floated off down the hall and Rule presented his arm.
    â€œShall we?”
    Violet tried not to notice that he looked even better thismorning than he had last night, his eyes no longer sleepy, but an alert, brilliant blue. His cravat was perfectly tied, his navy-blue tailcoat tailored to fit his very wide shoulders. The faint shadow of beard was gone, which had given him an attractive roguish look, and she rather missed the sight of his suntanned throat above the open V of his shirt.
    â€œMy lady?”
    It took her a moment to realize he was waiting for her to accept his escort down the hall to the breakfast room. From the corner of her eye, she caught Caroline’s grin the instant before she disappeared into the study.
    She returned her attention to Rule. “I would rather you call me Violet. I am not used to your English forms of address.”
    He gave a brief nod of his head. His wavy black hair was a little longer than she remembered and she had the oddest urge to run her fingers through it.
    Rule smiled. “Then Violet it shall be—as long as you call me Rule.”
    She wasn’t about to address him as his lordship, so conceding was easy. “All right.” She took the arm he offered and let him guide her along the hallway to a sunny room at the rear of the house that overlooked the garden. It was done in shades of moss-green accented with rose.
    Rule seated her at an ornate rosewood table, then went over to the sideboard and filled two porcelain plates from a row of steaming silver chafing dishes.
    Awaiting his return, she draped her linen napkin over the skirt of her peach silk gown, then watched as he set the plates down on the table. The aroma of eggs and sausage drifted up from where they nestled next to several pieces of buttered toast.
    She glanced at the servant hovering at her shoulder holding two silver pots, one of tea, the other of coffee.
    â€œI prefer coffee,” she said, and the man poured each of them a cup. “Thank you.” Violet added sugar and cream and carefully stirred them into the strong, aromatic blend.
    â€œWhile I was in Boston, I came to prefer coffee myself,” Rule said, taking a sip from his own porcelain cup.
    â€œMy father taught me to enjoy the taste.”
    He set his cup back down in its saucer. “I’m sure you miss him.”
    Violet felt a familiar stab of loss. “More than you could ever know.”
    Rule’s thick black eyelashes swept down, hiding whatever he was thinking. He launched into his meal and they ate in silence for a while. It occurred to her that she hadn’t had supper last night and she was ravenously hungry.
    When she looked up from the bite she had taken, Rule was watching her and smiling. He had the whitest teeth and there was a sensual curve to his mouth Violet hadn’t understood at sixteen. She felt the impact of that smile and for an instant, her breathing stalled.
    Rule didn’t seem to notice. “I’m delighted to see that, unlike most Englishwomen, you actually eat as if you enjoy it.”
    Her fork remained poised in the air. She forced herself to spear a bite of sausage. “Everything is quite delicious. The meals aboard ship were mostly just filling.”
    She took another sip of her coffee as silence descended again. She finished the last of her breakfast, wiped her mouth and set the linen napkin aside. Rule was already finished, which meant the time had come to divulge the reason for her journey.
    â€œNow that we’re done and I am feeling human again, I would like to discuss the reason I am here.”
    He frowned. “The reason you are here? I assumed thereason you were here was to begin the marriage we started three years ago.”
    This was it. The moment she had been looking forward to, the reason she had traveled thousands of miles.
    To confront a husband who had married