Read Online Fool for Love (Montana Romance) by Merry Farmer - Free Book Online

toward her and motioning for her to turn around.  If he’d seen the warm flush that came to her cheeks at the sight of his body he didn’t let on.
    She turned her back to him.  Her relief was short-lived.  He lifted the mass of her hair and settled it over her shoulder so that he could do up her buttons.  The brush of his fingertips against her neck quivered down to her core.
    “I haven’t been feeling well in the mornings,” she twisted the truth.  He was a man, he wouldn’t know that was past.  “I thought I’d take a walk in the fresh air to settle my stomach.”
    “Oh.  Right,” he answered.  “Want me to come with you?”  He finished with her buttons and lifted her hair back into place.  His fingers seemed to linger longer than necessary.
    Amelia recognized the shivery, aching feeling that swirled through her at his touch.  Surely it would do no harm to give in to temptation just a little.  Her gaze fluttered down to the mound of her belly.  The damage had already been done.  She could just … taste.
    “You sure you’re awake?” Eric’s teasing voice shook her out of her thoughts.
    “Hmm?”  She spun to face him, taking a healthy step backwards.  No.  The last thing she needed was to give in to those terrible instincts again.  She owed it to Eric not to let him waste his kindness on a strumpet.
    Eric met her straight-backed determination to be good with a grin that fanned her flames instead of quelling them.  “You sure a walk is what you need right now?”
    “Yes,” she rushed her answer.  “It’ll settle my stomach.”  What had come over her?
    “I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling poorly.”  Eric switched from amusement to concern.  “It won’t take but a minute for me to get cleaned up and come with you.”
    “No,” she blurted.  “I think I need to be alone.”  As soon as the words were out she wished she could retract them.  “That is, I regret waking you up.  You could use the bed for a few hours while I walk the deck.”
    Eric rubbed his chin and considered the bed.  He grabbed his back and stretched.   Amelia looked the other way.
    “Yeah, I could,” he drawled.  “But I’ve got a responsibility to look out for you.”
    “Oh, I’ll be quite all right,” she fumbled.
    “You sure?”
    “Quite sure.”
    She dodged for the door before he could give her any more reasons to abandon good sense.
    As soon as she was safely in the hall she leaned against the wall and took a breath.  Her guilty panic shifted to a frown.  What kind of a woman would find a man so desirable that she would throw herself to ruin when she had already paid the price?
    An answer wheedled its way into her gut as she made her way down the hall toward the outer deck.  A woman of no virtue and less worth, that was who.  A woman like her.
    The morning sun did little to chase the gloom of that thought away from Amelia’s heart.  She took in a deep breath of sea air and walked to the railing, looking out over the ocean.  One day and they were already far from land.  The horizon stretched in a thin line around her.  There was no variation to the seascape.  It remained to be seen if there would be any variation to her life.
    She turned to walk along the deck, keeping close to the railing.  The ship’s crew was out in full force, mopping and cleaning the windows.  They tipped their hats to her as she passed, showing far more deference than she deserved.  One of two of her fellow first-class passengers were taking the early morning air along with her.  She received a tight smile from an elderly lady in a lace dress two decades out of fashion and her maid.  Something about the smile pierced Amelia’s heart.  They knew.  Everyone who looked at her could see that she was a wanton wretch.
    A clattering crash on the deck below yanked Amelia out of her thoughts.  She stepped to the railing and looked down to the second-class deck.  The little boy from the day before,