Cavendish Brothers 01 - An Unintended Journey

Free Cavendish Brothers 01 - An Unintended Journey by Catherine Gayle

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Authors: Catherine Gayle
could ever come true.
    Not for her. Not for little Abby Goddard, a simple maid working in Lord Pritchard’s employ. Not for the daughter of a bastard.
    Those sorts of things happened to high-born ladies, to princesses and the like.
    She was nothing like them.
    “ So will you?” Wesley asked. His voice was ragged, as though he couldn’t bear to hear her reply, but couldn’t bear to go without it, either.
    “ Will I what?”
    “ Marry me, you ninny.” The scar on his cheek stretched taut when he smiled, and his black-as-night eyes lit up in a manner she hadn’t seen in many years. “Tell me you’ll marry me before I catch my death in the cold from waiting to hear you say it.”
    A flood of emotion built within her again, as it had so many times the last several days. It pressed against her chest and churned the contents of her stomach and set her heart to galloping. Yet this time, it didn’t spill over in a gush of tears.
    Instead, she reached her hands up to pull Wesley’s head down to meet hers and caught his lips in a kiss. Tangling her fingers in the curls of his hair, she drew him closer, reveling in the strong arms about her waist and the gentle press of his mouth to hers.
    On a groan, he touched the tip of his tongue to the seam of her lips. She parted them, allowing him entrance to her heart. To her life.
    He’d kissed her before, before his father had taken a knife to his face and sent him away. But she’d been hardly more than a girl then. She hadn’t known the pain of loss yet in order to fully savor the sweetness of life. Those kisses had been altogether different.
    This was more. This was fuller and warmer and deeper, and entirely more consuming.
    This was love.
    Wesley broke off the kiss, but rested his forehead against hers, dragging ragged breaths deep into his lungs for quite some time. He placed a chaste kiss on the bridge of her nose, one that left her trembling with need. How could something so simple be so profound?
    “ Is that a yes, then?” His fingers traced lazy patterns on the backs of her arms, leaving trails of frozen fire in their wake. “Will you marry me, Abby?”
    The longing to tease him struck her suddenly, with a force she was powerless to resist. She pulled away from him so she could look up into his eyes, striking her most serious expression. “If I say no, will you return in three years to ask me again?”
    His face fell, with the most downtrodden countenance she’d ever seen taking over for just a moment. Then the spark was back in his eye. “Three years? I doubt I could survive three hours without asking you again. Three minutes might test my limits.”
    Abby laughed, possibly for the first time since Grandmama died. “Three minutes? You’ve no self-control.”
    “ None at all, when it comes to you,” Wesley said, all earnestness returned to his tone. “I don’t intend for that to ever change, Abby.”
    “ Good,” she murmured. Turning to head back into the castle, she brought his arms around her from behind so they were walking in a sort of backwards hug. “Shall we tell my family there will be a wedding tomorrow morning?”
    “ That won’t be necessary. I’m sure Danby has already taken care of it.”
    And so he likely had. Such an odd thing, to lose a grandmother and gain a grandfather…and a husband…in a matter of a few days’ time. Abby could only wonder what else this Christmas held in store for her. For some strange reason, she looked forward to it.

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