Free Seductive Lies (Secret Lives Series) by Colleen Connally Page B

surrounded them both. Much weighed on my grandfather. His desire for me to fill his shoes without a hint of scandal linked to our name. I should have suspected with the ease he accepted our engagement that he might have had other plans.”
    “It frightens me, Arthur.”
    Arthur’s arms tightened around her. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said firmly. “And I will make everyone pay for this deceit.”
    “Uncle Walter…”
    “Ssh, Harriet. Don’t concern yourself. All you need to know is that you will be safe. There is one thing, though, you need to know that I held back from you. It is about your grandmother.”
    He needed not to have said another word. Harriet knew her grandmother had passed. She choked back her tears. “Did she suffer?”
    “No, my darling. She passed in her sleep. It was peaceful, they said.” He soothed her. “You can take solace in the knowledge. I have no desire to upset you, but I felt you needed to know about your grandmother.
    “It is a lot to comprehend. It will take time. Know I will be by your side. I won’t attempt to leave until I see you settled.”
    “Leave? I need you, Arthur.” Harriet’s voice betrayed her fear. “You are going to take me with you wherever you are going. We could marry quietly. I desire nothing except being with you.”
    “My darling, as you can surmise, things are complicated. Trust me to handle everything in good order,” he murmured in her ear. “You have nothing to concern yourself with at the moment except me.”
    He pushed back her braid and buried his face in her neck. The whole of her body shivered with his lips against her sensitized skin. Skin on skin, he moved against her. His hand rounded her breast, arousing an intense passion his touch brought, along with the awareness of her raging need for him.
    Breathless, she felt his other hand between her thighs, pressing against her mound. In a long caress, his skilled fingers stroked her burning need and maddened her until waves of heat shattered her control. Moaning, a hundred…a thousand tiny sensations burst within her.
    She turned to face him and he plundered her mouth with his own, making her crazed. Desire for him burned. She writhed against him, feeling well his hard, erect manhood.
    She gripped tight ly his shoulders, urging him closer… closer. She needed him closer. He laughed… teasing her… torturing her. He bent down and took one of her nipples in his mouth. Sucking on her breast undid Harriet. Her body shuddered with want. She could take no more. She wanted him inside her. She called out his name.
    Opening herself up to him, she made no attempt to hide her desire. He mounted her then. She grew frenzied, eagerly accepting his every thrust until unrelenting throbbing in her loins erupted. She cried out as she felt his release. Pleasurable spasms climaxed through her, again and again.
    Drifting back into reality, he slid from her. He whispered, “This is how we are meant to be. You and I. We are meant to love one another—forever. Is that not what you told me?”
    “Forever,” she agreed.
    “Come here.”
    She complied and he gathered her in his arms . She lay in silence, realizing Arthur had quieted her concerns in the most inventive manner. She would accept his diversion at the moment, for he was correct. All that mattered was him. He was all she ever wanted. The world could wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Five
     
    The carriage rolled down the main lane of Lesworth, a small village a short distance from London. Harriet sat across from Arthur. Nervousness gripped her. She was going home. At least that was what Arthur called it … their home.
    The weather had cooperated with her first glimpse. A glorious day. The sunlight showcased the greenery of an early fall day to its fullest. The village seemed pleasant enough from the brief look she managed from her seat. A little more than half a mile along, the carriage turned onto a private lane.
    The lane wound around a