Free The Unexpected Bride (The Brides Book 1) by Lena Goldfinch

you’d never come back.”
    “Is that right?” He stilled as she leaned close, her breath tickling his ear.
    “Jack...” Her whisper was strangely demure seeing as her lips were now trailing across his cheek.
    Jack?
    It took all Isaac’s will to hold still and not explode from the bed.
    “Who’s Jack?” he asked carefully, so as not to wake her.
    Her sleepy laugh warmed his cheek.
    “Oh, Jack.” Her lips gently brushed his, the slightest touch, really, but it felt like a fire. “Darling.”
    She’d said it twice now— darling —and both times it soured his belly.
    “So, you love this ‘Jack’ fellow?” he asked, appalled at the slight croak in his voice.
    “Love you? Of course I love you. You’re my sun, moon, and stars.” She punctuated each celestial being with a little kiss.
    Had this Jack taught her to kiss? Isaac groaned silently, ashamed to find himself enjoying each soft kiss, despite the fact that he wasn’t her intended target— Jack was.
    “Dance with me?” She hummed a few sleepy notes, enough for him to recognize a lively waltz.
    He froze as she rested her hand on his shoulder. The touch of her fingers against his nightshirt. They burned right through.
    His wife loved another man.
    His blood slowed to a trickle, like an icy mountain stream.
    “Wake up or go to sleep, but either way, no more kissing.” He pushed her resolutely away. “Go back to sleep,” he repeated more firmly. It was the tone he used with his men when something urgent needed done. The tone they jumped to.
    She rolled over and snuggled into her pillow with a sigh.
    “Yes, Mama,” she mumbled, at which point she promptly began to snore—a delicate, feminine-sounding snore—but she was asleep nonetheless.
    She’d obviously done this sleep-awake talking before. Somehow he felt she should have warned him about that.
    A burst of anger hit him hard and fast on the tail of that thought.
    She should have told him a lot of things.
    She’d come out here to marry a stranger—to marry him , Isaac—when she loved another man? Why? Tonight, in her sleep, she’d laughed playfully, kissed him, and seemed a different person altogether. If she’d been widowed, wouldn’t she have said so? Of course she would have. Besides, she seemed too young to have been married. So who was Jack?
    Who are you, Rebecca Sullivan?
    Rebecca Jessup , he corrected himself.
    And then he thought: I’m married to a woman who’s in love with another man.
    The realization took the heat out of his anger fast. All he felt was empty.
    If she loves this Jack fellow, how can she ever come to love me?
    The pain of that thought revealed one thing: he’d begun to hope they could build a loving marriage like the one his father and mother had enjoyed. Sure, he’d started out with thoughts of pleasing Pop, but to Isaac’s mind marriage was a lifelong commitment, one he didn’t take lightly. Somewhere along the way, he’d resolved to give it his all. And he’d let himself indulge in some imaginary tender feelings for his little wife. Heaven help him, he’d dared to imagine she might come to care for him too.
    Her loving another man changed all that. Their whole marriage was one big glaring mistake.
    Well, he obviously couldn’t touch her now. It wouldn’t be right, would it?
    Of course not .
    Maybe someday she’d forget this Jack. Maybe he’d fade from her memory in time...
    How long would that take?
    If ever.
    Isaac stared sightlessly up at the ceiling until, at last, he managed to sleep for a few hours perhaps.
    When he woke again, he found Rebecca turned toward him, her eyes wide open, staring at him.
     
    ***
     
    Becky watched her husband, amazed at the sight of a man sharing the pillow next to hers. From the light peeking in through the curtains, she knew it was certainly morning. Her wedding night was over. She barely remembered anything, save a vague memory of a kiss or two...?
    Or had that been a dream?
    One thing was sure—Isaac had shared