Free His Sinful Secret by Emma Wildes Page A

mouth. Then he said with a rasp in his voice, “Yes.”
    For whatever reason, that was a relief. The sign of vulnerable human emotion eased some of her fears. So much so, tears stung her eyes.
    Michael went on, his voice now cool and controlled. “If I could trade my life for his, I would. Yet with all of those bullets, all of the blood and disease and French columns marching at us, he dies and I live. Who would think it would work out this way?”
    He was right. It was ironic that he had deliberately embraced danger and Harry had stayed in England, yet the duke and duchess hadn’t lost their more reckless son but instead the more carefully protected heir. Julianne said slowly, “I believe fate toys with us. We tell ourselves our choices form the course of our lives, but it isn’t true. From the moment we are born, chance is a variable we cannot control.”
    “Is that so?” A chestnut eyebrow edged upward. “You are a little young to have settled on that conclusion so quickly.”
    “Am I? I didn’t know there was a limitation on how old one must be to have a certain perception on life.”
    A fleeting look crossed his face but she couldn’t really interpret it. “Nor should a debate on the vagaries of chance be part of the evening after a marriage ceremony, at a guess. Forgive me, if you can, for asking the question that sparked it in the first place. Maybe we should start over. Let me say I think you are very lovely.”
    A nice effort from a man she sensed, even with her inexperience, did not use poetic language very often or bestow compliments. They were both on uncertain ground, it seemed, though in very different ways.
    Julianne smiled, still nervous but not maybe as apprehensive as before she’d steeled herself to walk into the room. “Thank you.”
    “I’ve asked myself how to make this as easy for you as possible.”
    She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she said nothing.
    “Perhaps you should come here.” He set aside his glass on a small polished table of dark wood.
    Go to him? Well, she’d promised to obey during their marriage ceremony, though just now his request didn’t sound as much like a direct order as a suggestion. He stood there very casually by the window, his chestnut hair just slightly tousled, the width of his shoulders imposing under the dark silk of his robe.
    I can do this. Slowly she rose and walked toward him.
    When she was close enough for him to touch her, she stopped, trying to gauge his expression.
    That was as futile as ever. She’d never known anyone so good at not having an expression at all.
    “This is all new to me also.” He touched her cheek, just a brush of the back of his fingers.
    Julianne quivered as the caress slid down along her jaw and followed the curve of her throat. “Somehow I doubt you’re inexperienced, my lord.”
    “I’ve never had a wife, I assure you.” He began to ease her robe from her shoulders. “Nor would I touch a virgin.”
    An oblique way of saying there had been women, but she wasn’t surprised. He was handsome, wealthy, and from an illustrious family, not to mention twenty-six years old. Harry hadn’t been celibate either; she knew that very well.
    “We’ll have to learn together, then,” she whispered as the material of her dressing gown glided down her arms to pool on the floor.
    “I believe that is the idea of a marriage in the first place.” His smile was nothing more than a faint, wry curve of his lips. “A mutual journey of discovery.”
    Those lips. She couldn’t help but recall how he’d kissed her after their vows. Though there hadn’t been anything passionate about it, it had been quite . . . well, nice. Since he’d just confessed he’d taken the time to consider how to approach what was about to happen between them, that in itself was reassuring.
    Now, when she could tell he was about to kiss her again, she wanted moonlit passion and a pounding heart. This was her wedding night, and though he wasn’t