Free The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren Page B

situation, whatever it might be.
    Well, he’d certainly handled it last night, Adrian thought with a rueful grimace. How could he, and Toddy’s information, have been so drastically wrong?
    Mercury, his big gray gelding, danced a few steps sideways on the gravel turnpike, spooked by a covey of wood pigeons flushed from some nearby brush. Without the faintest break in concentration, Adrian reined his mount back under control, the gentle pressure of his knees against Mercury’s side enough to reassure the steed and return him to his proper forward path.
    He caught Jeannette observing the tableau through the coach window. He raised a hand in greeting. She nodded in reply then lowered her eyes and turned away.
    Still annoyed, he supposed, about his choice of destination. Another black mark on his slate. Though thinking upon it, he couldn’t recall her voicing a single derogatory word since the wedding about spending their honeymoon in Dorset. Odd that. Up until that point, she had done little but complain and mope. He sighed to remember her behavior. As though the canceled trip to the Continent had cast a permanent blight upon her life.
    Since the wedding, however, a change seemed to have swept over her, one of unexpected serenity and acceptance. Mayhap her father had sat her down for a meaningful talk on her wedding eve. Although knowing what he did of the earl, it seemed unlikely. Wightbridge took little interest in anything other than his club, gambling and sport—the Hunt his favorite pastime. The man had never struck Adrian as a terribly involved parent. Then again, perhaps he was mistaken in that as well.
    He observed Jeannette again out of the corner of his eye, watching the pretty feather that decorated her bonnet bounce as the coach rolled over a rough patch of road.
    Tonight would be different, he promised himself. He would use a gentler hand with her. Try to regain some of the trust he had abused last night. She would know nothing but pleasure and fulfillment when he took her to his bed tonight.
    Mortifying as it was to admit, he’d lost his usual control last night, there at the very end, in a way he had not done since he had been an innocent sprig. She had an effect upon him he could not explain. A disturbing effect. Although he had longed to awaken her with kisses this morning at dawn, to show her his reputation as an experienced, considerate lover was not an exaggeration after all, he’d known she needed to sleep more.
    A virgin. He still could not believe it.
    A fist of primal satisfaction clenched inside him at the knowledge, spread in a hot wash through his belly. It should not matter, such things never had before. Yet knowing he was the only man she had ever lain with made him hunger for her all the more.
    And she wanted him as well. Even in her innocence, there was no disguising the passion that ran deep inside her fiery core. He would tap that heat. Coax it. Coax her. Teach her everything she needed to know and more. He smiled, greatly looking forward to the instruction to come.
    His prurient thoughts had him shifting uncomfortably in the saddle, rolling his shoulders to dispel the sudden strain. He frowned and forced himself to think about something else. Something dull and tedious. Or something worrisome, such as the recent unfortunate incidents on his estate.
    The unusually cool spring and wet summer they’d had in Derbyshire was causing the rivers and streams to swell and overflow their banks. Several tenant homes had been damaged in the floods, forcing families to flee and seek shelter with their more fortunate neighbors and friends. Three of his farmers had been made to look on, helpless, as their homes were swept completely away in the raging waters. Those families, with his assistance, were even now working to rebuild.
    The crops in the fields suffered as well, leaving many fearful of a poor harvest come fall. Hopefully, the clear skies many were praying for would arrive soon. If not, he would