Free Jo Beverley - [Rogue ] by An Arranged Mariage

handle.
    Then she asked, "But why have you married me?"
    He smiled as he looked away into the dancing flames. All the warmth seemed to return to his expression. "Because," he said, looking back at her, "he asked me to."
    Eleanor felt a weight lodge inside her chest. She was no more than a sloughed-off burden. "I see," she said, desperately swallowing tears. "Of course he couldn't have—"
    Nicholas came over to her quickly and took her hand. "It's not that. He admires you greatly, Eleanor, but he couldn't marry you. He never recovered from the death of his wife. Juliette was the wrong woman for Kit. He should have married a sturdy young woman with common sense, but instead he chose a hothouse beauty too frail for child-bearing."
    Eleanor looked down at his hand. It was fine-boned but strong, browned by the sun and marked by the scars and calluses of physical labor. A hand to depend on, she thought with surprise.
    He raised her paler hand to his lips then spoke again. "Tonight is obviously a night for sleeping, my dear. We can continue our discussion some other time."
    He would have gone, but she caught his hand. She looked up into his surprised brown eyes, wondering if she was mad.
    "No, you were right," Eleanor said, dry-mouthed. "We should..." She could not meet his eyes and looked away. "I am afraid."
    Her hand trembled against his firm, warm flesh. Why was she pursuing what he had been willing to drop?
    Because a terror faced is preferable to one that must be feared day after day. It had always been her way.
    She glanced up at him, half hoping he would argue against it. His eyes searched hers. "Can you trust me, Eleanor?"
    Unable to speak, she nodded.
    He kissed her hand again. "Then go to bed. I will join you shortly."

 
     
     
    Chapter 4

     
    Eleanor lay rigid in the bed, afraid of pain, afraid of embarrassment, afraid above all of what this business was going to do to him. She had already developed respect for Nicholas Delaney. She did not want to see him transformed into the gasping monster that haunted her nightmares, the monster who had apparently been that urbane and sensitive man, Lord Stainbridge.
    She wished she had her impulsive decision to make again. She wondered whether he had manipulated her after all. Fine words and firelight were all very well, but...
    He came back into her room. He was dressed in something very like a monk's robe of woven cloth, striped brown and cream and green. It looked like the clothing of some strange African people and, she thought, it probably was.
    She watched, wide-eyed, as he moved around the room extinguishing the candles and tending the fire. Soon only its red glow illuminated the bedchamber. Eleanor studied the purple shadows on the ceiling as he came toward the bed. She felt it move as he slipped in beside her, felt the faint heat of his body merge with hers.
    She could count her heartbeats. She wondered if he could hear them.
    She sensed him roll on his side to face her. She did not, could not, turn her head to be sure. Silently, she begged him to be quick about it.
    A hand settled softly on her ribs near her heart. She caught her breath and tensed. It slid away to her hand, where it rested, warm and firm.
    "Relax, my dear." His voice was as soft as velvet in the red dark. "Remember, I promised not to force you. It will not be as bad as you fear." His thumb made gentle circles on the pulse of her wrist. "Think, Eleanor. What is this business between men and women? There have been women who have risked a great deal, even life itself, for it. Love alone is not the explanation. Are they mad? Or is there pleasure there?"
    Eleanor felt the movement of his thumb and his soft voice working on her like a soothing syrup. Almost unwillingly she relaxed and began to feel quite unlike herself.
    "I suppose," she said, her voice coming out huskily, "women must differ in this as in anything else. There are women with a passion for gambling, after all."
    "And for drink and for