An Inconvenient Wife
Page 35
The carriage door opened and the ladies clambered out, breathing in the salty air. She watched the hustle and bustle as her things were loaded, barely listening to the chattering at her elbow. She managed to answer direct questions, but everything else flew past her without her notice.
Finally, it was time. Kyra hugged her family over and over. It was difficult to say goodbye, and all four pragmatic ladies were misty-eyed by the time Kyra climbed the gangway to the ship. Maggie was following closely behind her, the only servant now still in her direct employ. Her maid was making small comments that were meant to comfort her but did little more than annoy her further.
Kyra breathed a sigh of relief as the captain greeted her and led her to the suite that she would call home for the duration of her journey. Once she had turned in she could dismiss Maggie, then flop on her bed and allow herself to wallow in her ill temper. Thanking the captain outside the door to her room, she shook her head at Maggie’s offer to help, and opened the door before her maid could argue.
Kyra practically flung herself into the room and spun to cut off her maid’s comment, shutting the door quickly behind her and letting her forehead gently thunk on the heavy wooden door. Safely locked in her cabin, away from the noise, away from her life, she closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.
“So are you planning on crossing the entire Channel standing against that door?” a familiar voice asked from behind her. Not just any voice. His voice. “Looks awfully uncomfortable to me.”
Kyra lifted her head and turned slowly to face her husband, who was stretched comfortably atop her bunk, hands behind his head, shirt untucked, feet bare. He grinned cheekily at her. “‘Allo, Kay.”
“Ethan,” she said slowly. “What are you doing here?”
Grif shot her a reproving look, as though she had asked if the sky was blue. “My wife has taken it into her head to travel abroad. I’m accompanying her, of course.”
Kay huffed. “You beast!” she said. “You let me believe that I was leaving you! You said you had to let me go!”
Grif snorted, rolling his eyes at her. “I told you I’d never risk your resentment by making you stay, you little baggage. I never said I’d let you go alone.”
He sat up, and looked at her with such fierceness that her heart soared. “I will never let you go, Kay. If it means following you halfway around the world, so be it, though honesty compels me to add that I do hope to return home someday so our family may meet our child. But I leave that entirely to your discretion, my love.”
“But—” she started, not sure what she meant to ask. He had completely astounded her. She was thrilled. She was furious. She was baffled. “How did you get in here?” she demanded, still trying to compose her emotions. Trying not to throw herself at him, in truth.
“I simply walked onboard and told the captain to send me straight to the brig,” he joked. At her scowl, he sighed. “Thomas and my mother helped me with the arrangements.”
“What of Edmund?”
“It’s been taken care of,” he said, his patience wearing. “Happily, my name has been cleared of murder and I have given up the life of a smuggler to travel with my loving, doting wife.”
At her skeptical look, Grif sat up and reached out to her. “Come, madam, you may kiss me the entire length of the Channel.” He gave her a heavy-lidded look that melted her resolve. “It’s quite obvious that you want to do so, and I’m too weak to resist your charms.”
It was Kyra’s turn to snort, but she moved to the bed to stand over her husband. She folded her arms across her chest and arched a brow at him. “If you’re too weak to kiss me properly, then I have no interest in kissing you.”
“I may find my strength yet,” he purred.
Grif grabbed her wrist and pulled her down, causing a giggle to escape her lips. He brushed his fingers across her cheek and traced a slow path between the valley of her breasts and finally over the barely noticeable curve of her belly and smiled. “Do you know, madam, you make me incredibly happy?”
“I do?” she asked, trying to contain the shudder of excitement she felt at his touch. “Is it because I so obviously want to kiss you?”
“‘Struth,” he told her, gazing up at her with eyes as deeply green as emeralds. “That and because I love you.”
Kyra felt her mouth quirk in a wry smile. “I love you too.”
“Kiss me, Kay,” he murmured. “Kiss me forever my insolent, stubborn, beautiful wife.”
Epilogue
Kyra glared up at the sky, willing the sun to peek out from behind the clouds in order to save her spring flowers. She’d be damned if she’d let her hard work and her dahlias go merely because the sun refused to make an appearance for more than a moment at a time.
A sticky hand on her cheek instantly melted her ire and she turned to smile into a pair of beautiful sea-green eyes. “Yes, my love?”
“Mama, can I play wif Gussie and Poppy?” little Riley Ashford asked with all the enthusiasm of an almost-three-year-old.
“Of course, love,” Kyra grinned, bussing her son on his cheek. She watched as six-year-old Augustus took the toddler by the hand to play ball with the older children. Gus had been thrilled by the birth of his cousin, as he was no longer the youngest of the group, and had taken quite a shine to Riley. Riley, of course, returned the favor by offering Gus something akin to hero worship.
“Stay away from those dratted birds,” drawled her husband, who was sprawled lazily across the picnic blanket and relishing his role as Kyra’s chaise. He wrapped his hands more snugly around his wife’s large belly and kissed the back of her neck.
“Mother? Will you help with Riley? Keep him away from the geese!” he called to the picture-perfect Lady Eleanor currently hitting a croquet ball. She looked up from the game and nodded with a smile. “I really hate those geese,” he muttered.
“Evelyn has quite a swing,” Kyra observed, watching the game for a moment. “Oh, how darling...Tess is helping Riley. Look, he’s a natural.”
Her husband kissed her neck in response. Kyra smiled and lifted her chin to look back at him. “I’m getting too heavy to sit on your lap, Grif,” she said, with no real intention of moving. “Besides, Charles and Tricia will likely return from the garden soon, and I’d hate to be a spectacle.”
“Nonsense,” he said, rubbing her stomach. Just then the baby kicked under his fingers, bringing a smile to her father’s handsome face. Grif looked delightedly at Kyra. “This child is going to be as spirited as you, I fear.”
“Hmm,” Kyra drawled. “That must be quite frightening for you, considering you’ve yet to handle me properly.”
Grif chuckled. “Since you find my technique lacking, madam, I suppose I’ll just have to keep trying to please you.”
Kyra sighed and laid her head back against her husband, her heart near to bursting with happiness. “I suppose you will,” she murmured. “In fact, you may start by kissing me witless, as it’s rather obvious that you’re desperate to do so.”
“I’ll do my best,” Grif vowed.
* * * * *
About the Author
Caroline Kimberly has spent most of her life making up stories to help offset the daily grind. It wasn’t until she was in graduate school, however, that she realized she wanted to write for a living. Since then, she’s worked as a newspaper reporter and as a copy editor for a children’s book publisher. Historical romance has always been her favorite genre, however, and brainstorming romantic romps makes her life as a soccer mom much more interesting.
She lives in Minnesota with her very patient husband, two busy daughters and three lazy cats.
Obligation and scandal are plentiful in The Ashford Brothers Series. Read Simon’s story in An Inconvenient Kiss, available now!
An Inconvenient Kiss
Ind
ia, 1820
Georgiana Phillips always conducted herself according to the rules of polite society. So catching Simon Ashford in a compromising position should have been shocking. Instead it was...arousing. And kissing him herself was absolutely delicious—until it led to her ruination.
That perfect, scandalous kiss has haunted Simon for six years. He doesn’t regret it, though he’s tried desperately to restore Georgie’s reputation. When he’s ordered to look after her in the wilds of India, it’s an opportunity to finish what he started. But he’s no match for Georgie’s adventurous spirit—she seems set on getting herself killed, diving in after hungry crocodiles and braving monsoons to hunt for lost treasure.
Georgie wouldn’t trade her exciting new life for anything in the world, including marriage. And yet Simon seems determined to rein her in, rewarding her brief moments of propriety with kisses far more exotic than any tribal ceremony or archaeological expedition. How can he convince her that she’s so much more than a beautiful obligation?
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ISBN-13: 9781426899317
An Inconvenient Wife
Copyright © 2014 by Caroline Kimberly
Edited by Kerri Buckley
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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