Free His Contract Bride by Rose Gordon Page B

of a brother.
    But it didn't matter. She and Edward were married now, and though she hated knowing she'd been sold from one cold, scheming snake right into the house of another for the sum of some fifteen thousand pounds, she couldn't do a thing about it. Best to do what her father had trained her to do best: push aside her feelings on the matter.
    Willing the traitorous tears that were now stinging the backs of her eyes to go away, Regina walked into Edward's library and sat down at Edward's desk to wait for his return.
    How odd it felt to sit here now. Only ten short minutes ago, it felt like the most natural place on earth for her to be.
    Not now.
    This was Edward's desk. Edward's library. Edward's home. And all she was was Edward's wife.
    Her stomach flipped and a dizzying feeling came over her.
    How cruel fate had been to her, after all.
    There must have been a shortage of air in the room because breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Bracing her hands on the oak desk, she forced her wobbly legs to stand and carry her from the room. She needed to lie down. Dinner. She'd rest until dinner then she'd be able to put this all behind her and face him again.
    Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on whom you asked—Lord and Lady Sinclair came by to join them for dinner.
    “ Ooooh, turtle soup,” Lady Sinclair fussed when the footman set her bowl down in front of her. “It's positively my favorite.”
    Wasn't everything? If memory served, just about every food Regina had eaten in Lady Sinclair's company had been her favorite. “Good, I'm glad you like it,” she murmured.
    “ Oh, I do.” Lady Sinclair lifted her spoon to her pursed lips and sucked an unnoticeable amount from her spoon before lowering it back to the bowl. “Mmm,” she said, closing her eyes and licking her lips.
    Regina tore her eyes away and dropped them to look at her bowl before she rolled them. Lady Sinclair loved attention and found the oddest ways of gaining it. Not that it mattered so much to Regina at the moment. She'd rather fade into the wallpaper just now anyhow.
    From beneath her lowered lashes, she peered down the table at her husband.
    Now that she didn't have her family's lies clouding her vision, she saw Edward for who he really was. He wasn't in love with her, he just tolerated her. She hadn't had any friends close by, so out of pity, he'd invited her to spend time with him. The realization turned her stomach.
    She shoved her bowl away. Her appetite was gone.
    “ Is something not to your liking?” Edward asked, surprising Regina. How had he noticed her with Lady Sinclair slurping her soup and declaring how heavenly it was?
    “ I'm just trying to save room for my next dish.”
    Lady Sinclair's eyebrows flew toward her hairline. “Dear me,” she murmured, patting her chest. She then said something else that Regina didn't bother to listen to. It couldn't have possibly been of any import.
    It was all she could do to make it through the remainder of the meal without her stomach revolting.
    But she did and said a prayer of thanksgiving when Lord Sinclair announced that they couldn't stay after dinner, as he'd like to return home and rest up for the full day of travel to London tomorrow.
    After their guests were gone, she excused herself to go wait in her room. Today was Wednesday, the night Edward normally sought entry to her room.
    Ever the observant lady's maid, Georgie helped her into the appropriate nightgown and left Regina alone to wait for her husband. Would he come? She dismissed the thought immediately. Of course he would. He wasn't the one who'd had his heart broken today. He wasn't in love with her, nor had he ever been. For him, nothing had changed today. There was no reason for him not to come.
    Just as the clock struck eleven came the soft knock at the adjacent door and with it fear's icy grip settled around Regina's heart. What if now that she knew the truth, he'd cease the charade and would no longer be the