Read Online Dark Obsession by Allison Chase - Free Book Online Page A

Again he nudged her elbow as if she were unable or unwilling to proceed on her own.
    Feeling cross, she gathered her skirts and climbed inside, then experienced a heated sense of panic when he clambered in after her, filling the empty space with a bulk of shoulders, arms and legs.
    The door closed, sealing them in dusky solitude, she and this stranger. He was all muscle and rambling limbs with no particular regard for her own need for space. His knee tapped hers as the coach rocked forward. His coat sleeve brushed her bare forearm while his shoulder knocked solidly against hers. Even as she attempted to negotiate an inch or two between them, that little secret whispered to her pulse points, murmured its quivering message to deepest places inside her.
    Her fingertips traveled to her lips, pressing ever so gently. . . .
    ‘‘Thank heavens that’s over.’’
    Snapped from her musings, she scowled up at him. ‘‘Can you never refrain from insulting me?’’
    He regarded her blankly. Then his eyebrows gathered. ‘‘I did no such thing. You can’t mean you enjoyed that?’’
    Her breath caught. Had he read her mind, somehow guessed . . . but then she realized which ‘‘that’’ he meant. The ceremony, not the kiss. A laugh of relief escaped her as she relaxed against the squabs. ‘‘Goodness no. It was torture.’’
    ‘‘Deuced right.’’ He paused. ‘‘Wait. You’re not insulting me now, are you?’’
    Her gaze traced the strong lines of his face and she wished, for the briefest instant, that those vows they’d repeated hadn’t rung with such hypocrisy. She merely faced forward again and shrugged.
    ‘‘I suppose I’d deserve it.’’
    She smoothed the layers of her lace and satin skirts. ‘‘Indeed you would.’’
    From the corner of her eye she saw him studying her. She couldn’t be certain, but she believed she detected the beginnings of a smile. With a tremor of anticipation she wondered what he was thinking, what he might be planning. As she’d learned at Wycliffe House, Grayson Lowell was nothing if not unpredictable.
    When she braved a glance, however, the smile had vanished.
    ‘‘I wish to apologize for my behavior that night at Chad’s,’’ he said, uncannily following her thoughts again. ‘‘I don’t usually say or do those kinds of things.’’
    ‘‘Oh?’’ She pulled the lace mitts from her hands and tossed them into her lap. The ring he’d placed on her finger only minutes before glimmered with indifference. ‘‘So you save that privilege specifically for me?’’
    ‘‘Not exactly.’’ He released a breath. ‘‘I was angry but not at you. None of this is your fault.’’
    ‘‘Meaning?’’
    ‘‘I had to marry. If not you, then someone else.’’
    ‘‘Someone with a generous dowry.’’
    He nodded.
    ‘‘I suppose your options were limited.’’
    Another nod, accompanied by a shrug.
    She glanced at his profile, itself a fascinating world of jutting angles and rough planes, as inhospitable as any barren landscape. Several days ago she had begun a painting of him by memory. Now she realized she could never hope to capture a spirit as volatile as Grayson Lowell’s.
    She sighed. She had been his last resort, just as he had been hers. No one else would accept either of them. No wonder he was angry. She was angry too. But did he have to say it? Rub it in? Wouldn’t a gentleman at least preserve the illusion of this day, make a gift of it rather than handing her an empty plate of reality and bidding her chew it well?
    ‘‘Supposing you could have it without me, then? The money, I mean. What would you give in return?’’
    He shifted to peer down at her, one arm sliding across the squabs above her shoulders so that if she leaned her head back, it would rest in the crook of his elbow. He drew closer, searching her face until she pulled back. And then there she was, caught between his arm and his piercing regard. ‘‘Explain.’’
    ‘‘I—I’ll