Read Online Celine by Kathleen Bittner Roth - Free Book Online

the corner of the house and found the garden. She wandered along the floral-scented paths, confused, and still trembling.
    What was happening? Everything about Carlton Oaks had been so quiet, so peaceful—until that scoundrel showed up. Finding a bench, she sat. For how long, she didn’t have a clue, but when the horizon over the trees took on a shifting light, she slipped back into her room. A fire burned low in the fireplace. She had hoped she wouldn’t rouse Marie—again. But the maid had instincts whenever Celine wandered about at odd hours . She would be sure to thank her maid for lighting the fire when Marie delivered breakfast.
    Celine removed her robe, threw it on the floor beside the bed, and separated the mosquito netting. A rose and note lay on her pillow. She opened the note.
    â€œDormez bien, mon amour.” Sleep well, my love.
    Trevor’s bold signature trailed beneath the words.
    She regarded the blazing fire, the neatly made bed, one corner of the covers pulled back to receive her. So this was all his doing, not Marie’s. Heaving a great, tired sigh, she walked over to the door and locked it before making her way to the wingback chair angled before the fire. She curled up with the note in her lap and stared into the flames.
    She’d wanted to surrender to Trevor tonight, plain and simple. Could mere desire actually be so stunning as to completely tangle the mind? Could temptation be so powerful as to make a person want to sink to the floor with someone they’d barely met and give in to wantonness for the sheer pleasure of touching and being touched?
    Here she’d thought she’d experienced true desire reading those erotic books, but now she knew what she’d experienced had been without substance. She finally knew what fantasy was—it was the idea that she could be in control with a man like Trevor.
    What an unexpected twist to her life.
    If she’d been overwhelmed when she’d caught sight of him climbing out of the carriage, this was devastation. In the instant he touched her, reality left her and pieces of her scattered like leaves in the wind. What would have happened if she hadn’t come to her senses? Mercy, but the two of them lived in such different worlds—and he was only passing through hers. What would she have sacrificed had she succumbed? No need to try and ponder—some things were better left alone.
    But what about tomorrow? How would she react if he approached her again? She knew full well what could happen. He was temptation, that’s what he was.
    And sweet deceit.
    Well, whatever measures she had to take, there would be no repeating tonight. If only she could somehow disappear into the ethers, magically transport herself to the next waiting ship bound for San Francisco. Well, she couldn’t do that, could she? But what she could do was show him she took no interest in him. Not a speck. She would seek Cameron out in the morning, take him up on his offer to spend the day riding.
    She wrapped her arms around her waist and surveyed the room. Trevor’s power was everywhere—in the note, in the bedding he’d straightened for her, in the flames dancing in the fire he’d lit. He’d done it all for her.
    Tears welled.
    The last thing she needed was a glimpse of tenderness in a man who was most likely the most dangerous person she had ever met.

Chapter Five
    Celine slid off her horse and into Cameron’s outstretched arms. He set her gently to the ground, waited for her to straighten her skirts, and then offered his arm. She was glad she’d approached him at breakfast before Trevor arrived. In the far reaches of the plantation, away from the beehive of activity at the house, she could think clearly again. And here, surrounded by oak trees and silence, Trevor did not exist.
    â€œCome,” Cameron said. “There’s a marvelous tree over here I’d like to show you. It was my favorite as a