Never Fall for Your Fiancee
- Автор: Heath Virginia
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: St. Martin's Publishing Group
- Жанр: Исторические любовные романы
Электронная книга - «Never Fall for Your Fiancee». Краткое содержание книги:
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Virginia Heath's fun characters and situations will have you laughing out loud! Don't miss this wonderful read! - Sabrina Jeffries, *New York Times* bestselling author**
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The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.**
Hugh felt the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding escape, and with it went most of his irrational jealousy, when he knew he shouldn’t care. She mistook his relief as pity and pulled up her slim shoulders proudly, looking him dead in the eye. “With hindsight, I firmly believe he did me a favor.”
“Desertion is a favor?”
“I needed to grow up, and despite everything I had witnessed firsthand from my father, I still harbored silly, romantic notions when I needed to realize men are fundamentally untrustworthy as a breed because they are allowed to be and are really not worth the woman’s effort in the long run.”
“A cynical view. Not all men are untrustworthy.”
“True.” Not that she appeared particularly convinced. “Although I have yet to find one I can trust further than I can throw him. And, to their credit, some gentlemen are honest enough to admit to their failings up front—like your good self.” And with one pithy comment, she tossed him into the same lackluster league as her cowardly former sweetheart and her feckless, missing, shameful excuse for a father. “Which is admirable, for it gives a lady enough forewarning to avoid any potential misunderstanding at the start. Only a fool would fall for a scoundrel she knew was a scoundrel.” Her teasing tone did nothing to lessen the sharp sting of her words.
She gazed off into the distance again. “But enough of that … Is that the sea?”
Deflection.
Something he had always been a master of when people touched a nerve, yet until that moment, Hugh hadn’t realized how frustrating it must be for others, because he wasn’t done. He wanted to expose Minerva’s nerve completely, get to the root of it and fix it. He wanted to argue against her cynicism but was furious that he couldn’t. How could he when she had spoken the truth? He was also untrustworthy, and she deserved better.
“Not quite. It’s an inlet.”
“That’s a shame. I’ve never seen the sea before.”
At least that he could fix. “Another travesty easily remedied.” If only they all were. “We are a few miles from the coast. Would you like to see it today?”
“Could we?” Her lovely green eyes were bright again, excited.
“Today is all for you. If you want to see the sea, then your wish is my command. And I know just the place.” He held out his hand to help her down, and once again found he was unable to let sleeping dogs lie, despite knowing he had no right to be jealous and certainly no right to pry. “What was his name?”
“Why do you need to know?” Just her touch seemed to warm him from within.
“Because if I should ever collide with him, I know already I shall feel duty bound to tell him what a fool he was to let you go.”
Which also made him a fool, too.
But what other choice did he have? If he hadn’t been his father’s son, and therefore exactly the sort of man to ultimately, albeit unintentionally, let her down, then Minerva was the sort of woman he could see himself spending forever with—and happily. She was smart and funny, generous with her deeds and her thoughts, passionate, persistent, wonderfully flawed in her own unique and comical way, and without a doubt the single most attractive and alluring woman he had ever gazed upon. From her unusual height to her inability to sing, he adored everything about her.
“He was a fool.” She paused on the stairs, her features softening as she gazed down at him. “You say the loveliest things, Hugh.” She smiled and he basked in it. “No wonder all the ladies love you.”
“Except you.” That reality hurt.
“Except me.” Deeply hurt.
“Because only a fool falls for a scoundrel.”
“Exactly.” Her foot reached the bottom step. “I am a great many things, but I am certainly not … oh for goodness’ sake!” She yanked the fabric of her coat to reveal the single tenacious branch of bramble that had attached itself to her skirt. Another yank did nothing to shift it.
“You are making it worse.… Allow me.” Without thinking, Hugh reached behind her to untangle it. “Don’t move backward…” Her hand came to rest on his shoulder as she steadied herself. Hugh tried to ignore it while he wrestled with the thorns and his own crushing disappointment because she didn’t want him, and he knew she shouldn’t want him. Because he was his father’s son and incapable of being the man she deserved just like those others. But what if he could be …
There was no denying if he could be that man for anyone, he stood more chance with this amazing woman than any other.
Madness! This romantic place was clearly scrambling his wits.
“Almost done … there.” He intended to smile, triumphant, then escape, regroup. Save them both from his ridiculous, impossible desires, but his eyes were suddenly level with her lips and the smile failed to form because her hand was still on his shoulder and she smelled of strawberries and champagne and she was all he had ever wanted.
What if …
His hand was just millimeters from her hip, desperate to touch her. The few inches of air that separated her lush body and his seemed to crackle expectantly.
Neither of them moved.
He could hear her breathing.
Hear the intimate silence enveloping them.
Hear his own heartbeat.
His own indecision. His fears.
His own hideously romantic ideas. Some lustful. Some worryingly poetic. Neither by any means hideous. In fact, at this precise moment, they were thoroughly … excellent in every single way.
Excellent!
The floor shifted beneath his feet.
Clearly coming here, at this time of the morning, all alone with just her had been a huge mistake. Acting on his desires would be another huge mistake. Both for Minerva and his niggling, damn conscience. It would kill him to hurt her. For the sake of his own sanity and to do what was right, he stepped to the side to sever the hypnotic spell of whatever strange, invisible web was wrapped around them.
“Right, then—onward and upward with our adventure.” He had to force himself to walk back toward the breakfast basket rather than run for the hills in a blind panic, force himself to make meaningless small talk while he hastily packed the food away. Force himself not to give in to the urge to say to hell with it and kiss her anyway and be damned. Force himself not to be thoroughly annoyed that he couldn’t. Shouldn’t.
Wouldn’t.
Force himself not to notice she seemed disappointed that he hadn’t.
He helped her back in the curricle instead, then busied himself with reattaching the basket to the back, returning to his seat only when he felt composed enough to continue as if nothing was amiss at all, when everything was.
He was in pain.
Pain like he had never experienced before, because it was apparently his heart that felt it the most keenly, an organ that had never been thus affected before or one he had ever given much thought to. It forced him to face a reality he had never expected, one he had believed himself immune to and unable to feel. One that had crept up on him without him realizing, taking root and growing quietly stronger in a secret corner he never knew existed.
He had feelings for Minerva.
Affectionate, possessive, needy, and all-encompassing feelings, but for the life of him, Hugh had no clue what to do about them beyond ignoring them and hoping they went away.
“I thought we’d tour a few of the pretty villages, then have lunch at the Queen’s Head in Titchfield. They do the most wonderful pies. Trust me. Pies to die for. And then we’ll drive to Hill Head, where there are miles and miles of beach for you to finally see the sea in all its glory. How does that sound?”