Free Winning Miss Wakefield: The Wallflower Wedding Series by Vivienne Lorret Page B

over the years, they’d left a permanent mark on her. A need for certainty of her future. That was precisely why she was desperate that this plan of Eve’s should work.
    Anxiety made her feel flushed. Heat pricked at her scalp, threatening to make her perspire. Merribeth turned away from the view and focused on something else to keep her head straight. She stepped past the lush, cream-colored Turkish divan and over to the second window.
    Unlike the other, this one did not host a far-off view of the sea but the length of the house instead. The corner of her room ended abruptly, jutting away from the main structure. Looking closer, she noticed a narrow balcony directly outside.
    Unable to resist, she turned the small iron handle and opened the window. The air was cool and sweet, scented by the tall grasses and drooping willow branches beside the pond. She breathed in deeply. A sense of calm filled her. If her task was to spend the next two weeks in this place, she believed she could manage.
    Before she left this view, she paid closer attention to the length of the house before her. Beneath the angle of the slate roof, windows dotted the expanse. Like hers, each room had a narrow balcony with a carved stone balustrade. The other views, however, were aimed toward the harbor and not the house. It seemed odd that this window should face the windows and balconies of other rooms. Stranger still, the window nearest hers was situated so closely that the balconies nearly touched.
    Back inside her room, Merribeth found that the maid and footmen had gone, and she was at her leisure. She sank down onto the sumptuous pillows on the divan and smiled with pure delight. Automatically, she covered her mouth to hide her smile, but then remembered she was alone and could smile all she liked without ridicule.
    And so she did.
    B ane planned to hide in the east wing library for as long as he could. After all, it wasn’t officially a party until all the guests arrived. The stipulation in his agreement with Eve regarding his participation, or lack thereof, didn’t count. Not yet.
    He knew his place in this wingback chair was only temporary. Far too soon, he would be forced to endure the company his aunt had chosen for his two-week stint in hell. His primary challenge would be avoiding a certain buxom widow that Eve had invited solely as a means to tempt him into losing their wager.
    He’d flirted with Daniela Pearce at Tattersalls recently. While she knew nothing of horseflesh, her words suggested she knew quite a lot of another flesh. Enough to pique his interest, which was a true accomplishment these days.
    The real pity was that he’d always enjoyed sex, the feel of a woman’s flesh, the sounds of her ecstasy, the power he felt at knowing he could make her weep from the stroke of his fingers or the flick of his tongue. He had an appetite for it—a thirst that had gone unquenched for longer than he cared to admit. Seduction was more of a rote behavior anymore.
    With any luck, after the wager with Eve concluded, Daniela Pearce could be the cure he sought.
    Bane shook his head, stroking the pad of his thumb across his bottom lip. A cure? Or another diversion that would run its course? He was more prone to believe the latter. Besides, he already knew she wasn’t worth the risk of losing Gypsy. He doubted any woman was.
    He heard a series of raps on the door, one long and three short. It was the signal he’d worked out with Bitters when he spotted someone in the corridor. Bugger . It looked like his solitude and sanity would end sooner rather than later.
    “Miss, I believe you’ll find the other guests gathering in the Great Room before dinner,” he heard his man say. Good old Bitters—he sounded every bit the snob.
    “Yes, of course.”
    Bane listened, waiting for the sound of retreating footsteps.
    “Shall I direct you, miss?” Bitters asked.
    She—whoever she was—seemed to hesitate. “It’s just that I want to explore a bit more