Free Her Wicked Proposal: The League of Rogues, Book 3 by Lauren Smith Page A

like me? Your friends, I mean. They barely know me,” Anne whispered back.
    “You have Emily’s friendship and approval, and what’s more you have mine. If they don’t treat you kindly, then they will answer to me.”
    “I didn’t mean…” She didn’t want to sound like she expected him to choose her over his friends, should it come to that. She would never want him to make that choice.
    “Please relax and lead me to a chair, will you?”
    Anne got Cedric seated and then took a chair next to his.
    “I believe congratulations are in order,” Lord Ashton said. He smiled at her and the rest of the room followed suit in offering their excitement over the upcoming marriage.
    Anne’s fears about being found wanting by Cedric’s friends seemed to be ill-founded. She finally relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief. Cedric must have heard this and put his arm around the back of her chair, cupping the nape of her neck. She was about to protest when his thumb and forefinger began to rub up and down the sides, massaging the tense knot of muscles there. The sensation was divine, and it seemed to melt every bone in her body.
    “All will be well,” he said, continuing to stroke her neck. Anne blushed when she noticed Emily watching her and Cedric with avid interest.
    Emily led the group in the sitting room through polite small talk until the dinner bell rang. Everyone rose and headed for the dining room. Cedric offered his arm to Anne and she took it. It never ceased to amaze her how often they touched now. It seemed his body and hers were dancing in a slow spin around each other, and someday soon they would collide and never again be fully separate in some mysterious and primal way.
    Anne’s breath hitched in her throat at the thought. Even blind, Cedric was still a powerful, masculine force that could easily dominate and possess her. She blushed deeply as she was reminded all that power and handsome perfection was hers now. But as much as the prospect thrilled her, it also frightened her out of her wits. What if he found her wanting? What if he found no pleasure in her bed and sought it in the arms of another?
    How am I to keep him if I cannot trust myself to surrender to him?

Chapter Five
    Cedric was ignorant of his fiancée’s thoughts as he walked with her to dinner. He let her body guide his, feeling the faint pull of her when he needed to alter his path. It was a skill he’d worked on when Ashton led him about while he first learned to survive with his condition. Fortunately, he was decently familiar with Godric’s townhouse, but the nervousness that held his body made him more hesitant than usual.
    He wanted to show Anne that he could still play the English gentleman, that he was not as helpless and hopeless as he felt. He sagged into his seat at the table with relief. His body seemed to naturally tense when he was up and about, as though some part of him expected to be injured somehow. Feeling more like himself, he reached out boldly to find his wine goblet…
    Splunk!
    His hand collided with the thin stem of the goblet, toppling it onto its side. He heard wine sluice over the table and the chatter around the table halted. Cedric, even blind, could sense every eye in the room fixed upon him. It was mortifying. The only relief was that he couldn’t see the pity in their faces.
    It was too much. He hated eating in front of others and this was why. Cedric shoved his seat back, which happened to hit a footman. The footman stumbled, dropping a replacement goblet, which shattered on the wooden floor close by. Cedric got to his feet and felt about for his cane, but it wasn’t there.
    “Cedric…” Godric said somewhere near his right, but Cedric shrugged off his friend’s coaxing tone. With as much pride as he could muster, he walked in the direction of the door to leave the dining room. He didn’t want to apologize; he didn’t want to hear the pity in their voices. He needed solitude.
    Charles called after him,