Bride Enchanted by Edith Layton Page A

there’d beenno coercion or magic about it. He hadn’t had to delude her in any way. She wanted him. She was enough like him for him to know that. Her kiss good night had been filled with desire and impatience and eagerness to have him.
    They’d have a good life together; he hadn’t been lying about that. He hadn’t lied about anything. He never did, or rather, he never wanted to. This time, he’d just not said those things she might have asked had she not been so taken with him, with romance, with her fate.
    He was very pleased. Eve was charming. She wasn’t as beautiful as some other females he’d known, but she’d appealed to his senses enormously, and for a wonder, she was also clever. That was a novelty and a joy. He knew he’d enjoy their time together. And, Aubrey vowed to the glowing moon above him, he would be as good to her as he’d told her he’d be. And he might, he thought, even come to love her. That was, to love her insofar as he was capable of it.
    He rode home through the shadows, smiling.

Chapter 5
    E ve shuddered. Aubrey’s lips had left hers, his hands slowly drew away from her body, and now he sat back, only inches away from her. But he was far enough away to restore her to her senses. She took a deep shivering breath as he pulled up her sleeve and the neckline of her gown, and covered her.
    â€œWhy?” she asked, without looking at him. “Why did you stop? Did I do wrong?”
    â€œNo, too right. That’s the point. You do too well. I stopped because we’re not married. I can only go so far and no further.”
    She raised shaking hands to rearrange her hair. He’d run his hands through the tangle of it as he’d kissed her. It had felt as though each separate hair had a nerve of its own.
    â€œWe won’t be wed for six months,” she said. “So either we stop doing this entirely, or we do more. What’s the difference? We’ll be married soonenough.” Before she could be startled by what had come from her own lips, he answered.
    â€œNot soon enough,” he said. “You want to walk down the aisle by yourself, not with our son in your arms, or at least, not with his imminent arrival visible.”
    â€œWe don’t have to go that far,” she said.
    â€œI do,” he said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause,” he said patiently, “I don’t like to feel like a boy stealing kisses in a darkened corner. And I have only so much control. I don’t want to dishonor you; neither would you be comfortable with such a thing. But this kissing and nibbling, touching and withdrawing is not enough, Eve. There’s satisfaction to be found that way, but it’s furtive and unfulfilling. We can do much better, we’re adults. Yet we aren’t yet wed. And why is that?” he asked, as he reached out a slender hand and gently traced the outer whorls of her inner ear. “The settlements are made,” he added softly. “Your father was too generous, by the way. Your brother likes me.”
    â€œYou offered to teach him to drive your chestnuts,” she said, trying not to shiver at his touch. “He’d have given you his soul for that.”
    â€œIndeed? I forgot to ask him for it. Well, let’s see what else we’ve settled, besides any objections your family might have had. The guest list is complete. The banns have been posted, the church selected. We’ve been wined and dined and toasted to the sky by friends, family, and acquaintances.”
    â€œI haven’t met your relatives,” she said.
    â€œNor are you likely to. I told you,” he said sadly. “There are few, and those are far between, or simply far away. There are no more impediments, Eve. Yet, now, because you want a spring wedding, we must wait longer, through autumn, winter, and then into spring. A season into another season, and then another.” He said the last as though