Read Online A Reckless Promise by Kasey Michaels - Free Book Online

is.”
    â€œSo you didn’t lie to me. Precisely.”
    â€œNo, I did not. Not precisely.” Her heart was pounding half out of her chest. If the man became any more relaxed he might slide right out of the chair!
    â€œPardon me if I don’t figuratively shower you in rose petals in reward for your selective honesty.”
    He had every right to be angry. Incensed. And yet he seemed somehow pleased. What was wrong with the man?
    â€œI had a reason.”
    â€œOh, I’m certain you did, and a prodigiously good one at that. Please share it with me. I’m all agog to know.”
    â€œNot if you continue to be so facetious. And...and smug. I would have told you. Eventually. Someday. If left with no other—and now you’re grinning. How dare you!”
    â€œI dare, madam, because you’re not married, have never been married and are definitely not a widow. You certainly aren’t a Boxer. So what do I call you now?”
    â€œI don’t believe we have a choice, unless you want to tell those kind ladies downstairs that they’ve been lied to, which I sincerely do not wish to do. Especially after the duchess and Clarice, believing me widowed, insisted on sharing some rather, um, pointed jokes about the joys of...”
    He was sitting forward now. “Yes? The joys of what, Sadie? I’ve settled on informality, you’ll notice.”
    â€œThey considered me equally...experienced. And I won’t say any more than that because it would only make you happy. I just thank heaven I spent enough time in my brother’s surgery to understand what they were referring to much of the time.”
    â€œPertaining to the male anatomy, I’ll assume. When you dig a hole, Sadie Grace Whomever, you dig it deep, don’t you? I suppose we should both thank your lucky stars that Maxwell wasn’t a Pomeranian.”
    Sadie’s mouth twitched upward at the corners, but only for a second. There was much more to come, and she knew it. He was being entirely too congenial for a man who’d been tricked into thinking of her as Mrs. Boxer, addressing her as Mrs. Boxer in conversation, introducing her to his friends as Mrs. Boxer. In fact, he should be hopping mad!
    So why wasn’t he?
    â€œI shouldn’t mention this, as it reveals my sad lack of trust in you, but I wasted a good part of the last four evenings pestering friends and acquaintances, hoping one of them would remember a Maxwell Boxer, perhaps from the war. Oddly enough, none did.”
    â€œYou can’t blame me for your suspicious nature, my lord,” Sadie pointed out, because she could take his facetious and raise him two trumps, blast him!
    â€œI suppose you have me there.” He put his thumb to his cheek and stretched out his fingers to begin massaging his forehead above his left eye. His lips thinned noticeably and his complexion had gone rather pale.
    For all his outward composure, clearly inside he was struggling to control his temper. She’d given him the headache, and felt instantly ashamed.
    She rushed to explain.
    â€œMarley is John’s daughter—I didn’t lie about that. She’s here because John instructed me to bring her to you. And I’m John’s sister, just as I said I am. Sadie Grace Hamilton. I simply felt it safer to travel the public coach as a soldier’s widow than as who I am, that’s all.”
    He looked at her with his one eye. That single piercing blue eye. What was he waiting for now?
    â€œNow you want to know why I simply didn’t identify myself in my letter. I...I felt I had a good reason for that. It seemed sensible to have my letter to you carry more weight than one penned by a grieving sister.”
    He was still staring.
    She squirmed in her seat. What else did he want her to say?
    And why couldn’t she simply shut up ?
    â€œAnd yes, I will say it did occur to me the precariousness of my position. I was bringing my niece