Free Forever Winter by Amber Daulton Page B

was away on the Continent. An only child without aunts or uncles to call on, he had spent the past four years as a recluse. He didn’t know his parents had driven the Beckinworth name into the ground until he began sorting through his parents’ debts, liens on the family estate and failing business. Thankfully, their bad business decisions did not affect his inheritance. Once everything was in order, debts and liens paid off, the business thriving, and his money properly managed, he decided to re-enter society and find a wife.
    Luckily, he wasn’t the same carefree man he used to be. He wasn’t a fool to throw away the name, land and fortune he had built from ruin on a conniving or doltish woman. There were many stipulations that a woman had to meet to become the next Viscountess Beckinworth.
    Attending a Christmas party last year at the estate of his parents’ last true friends—the Loricans—he stumbled upon Susanna in the courtyard. She rested on a cobbled stair and held her foot, cursing under her breath. Once she noticed him, a blush stole into her cheeks and she instantly apologized for her foul language. Embarrassed, she explained that she played a game with the children and fell down a short flight of steps. The children left to find help. As he tried to help her to feet, she grimaced in pain and fell back on her bottom. Camden knelt beside her and grasped her ankle, covered by wool stockings. She gasped in pain but allowed the inspection. Without pulling down the stocking, he determined that her joint was slightly swollen and muscles tender. She had twisted her ankle.
    Despite her protests, Camden picked her up and carried her close to his chest. The feel and weight of the supple woman stirred something primal in his blood. They had known each other for years but he never viewed her as anything other than the sister of his old playmates. But as she irritably folded her arms, humiliation flushing her face, he found himself wanting to kiss away her adorable frown. As a gentleman though, he refrained. Winding through the courtyard, they reached the manor just as Lord Lorican, two servants and the nervous children hurried toward them.
    Fortunately, after her ankle was wrapped in linen and she’d downed a glass of steaming tea, she rejoined the party, determined to have a good time. He spent more time with her than appropriate, but since she was unable to dance, his presence passed as nothing more than a family friend keeping her company in the midst of several peers and chaperones. He told her stories of the places he’d been, the people he’d met and made her laugh, distracting her from her sore ankle. That night, after her father’s yearly Christmas Eve party dwindled into the wee hours of the morning, he surrendered to temptation and stole a kiss under the mistletoe that hung from the library light fixture.
    Susanna was perfect in every way: honest, sweet and adoring, passionate, intellectual and stubborn. He had never known a woman like her. She exceeded every stipulation.
    Camden paused at the top of the stairs and gripped the elegantly carved banister. His eyelids fluttered closed. He still remembered that moment in the library. Her lips parted into an innocent pout and blue eyes widened as he kissed her. Her breath caught in her throat and the hitching sound crawled through his stomach and twisted around his groin. But then sparks ignited in those docile blues and she pushed him back. Her hand slapped the entire length of his cheek. He didn’t realize her nail cut him until later. He then nodded to the discreet mistletoe hanging over their heads. Her bashful grin silenced every roguish line he had ever used on a woman. And the blush stealing into her cheeks made him want to possess her, care for her and love her until the day he died.
    Never in his life had he felt anything so profound or powerful. He knew, right then and there, he could spend the rest of his life with her.
    As a few maids scurried by,