Read Online How To Seduce A Pirate (The Hawkins Brothers Series) by Alexandra Benedict - Free Book Online

had
returned and in robust health. She could hold him in her arms and dance with
him, not worry about his next tour of duty or even the next day.
    After a brief
hesitation, Quincy grasped her fingers and guided her toward the dance floor.
She shuddered at the rough tenderness in his hold, and when he curled an arm
around her waist and swept her across the room, she sighed with delight.
    “How was your
voyage?” she wondered in a warm manner, hiding the quiver in her heart. She really
didn’t want to hear about any near death escapes.
    “Unremarkable.”
    “And William?”
    “Alive.”
    His succinct
answers, lacking any dangerous details, put her heart at ease and allowed her
to focus on his sharp gaze instead, piercing her like arrowheads. She maintained
his unwavering stare, wading in the dark blue pools of his eyes, relishing the passionate
closeness.
    “I purchased a
house on Park Street,” she announced in the same agreeable vein. “There is room
for my sister, an art studio for myself and a separate bedroom for you.” Though
she’d every intention of changing that last unpleasant fact, right quick.
    “You will not return to work as Lord H.”
    “I am capable of
more than nudes, I assure you. I intend to paint for my own pleasure, any
number of subjects. And I will not sell my work, nor expose it to public view.
I must have a hobby.”
    Still he
glowered. “Why did you reveal you identity as Lord H to Belle?”
    Ah, the thorn in
his side. In the three months since his departure, Holly had made earnest
efforts to befriend her in-laws and had found their sincere welcome of her the
most wonderful gift. But she’d been unable to accept their generosity on false
pretenses. How could she build camaraderie with her new family without first
being truthful about her past?
    And so she’d
confessed her identity as Lord H and the real reason behind her hasty marriage
to their youngest brother, that he had not seduced her or acted in a
dishonorable manner.
    Holly had
dreaded making the admission. She had finally found a secure situation in life,
and she would risk it by revealing a scandalous secret? But her brother-in-law,
Edmund, already privy to her former identity as Lord H, had welcomed her into
the fold. Perhaps the others would as well? she’d reasoned.
    Whatever the
outcome, Holly would not allow the rest of the family to believe Quincy a
blackguard. In the end, to her boundless relief, the Hawkins’s had accepted her
in spite of her sordid past.
    “I revealed my
former identity to your entire family,” she corrected.
    His features
tightened. “Why?”
    “To take the
stain off your character, of course.”
    “Bully to that!
Belle is still furious with me.”
    “She’s furious
with you because you allowed her to believe you were a dishonorable rake.”
    “Well, haven’t
you done me a world of good? She now thinks I’m a liar instead of a
dishonorable rake.”
    Holly flushed.
    “I warned you to
leave the matter alone, wife .”
    If he thought to
reproach her for her defiance by playing the part of the dominant husband, he would
first have to be her husband.
    “I am a wife in
name only, remember? And I will not always honor your wishes, husband .”
    The veins in his
neck throbbed. “Is that so?”
    “It is, indeed.”
And then she pressed her breasts against his hard chest, touched his ear with
her lips and whispered, “But if you ever care to be a real husband, do let me
know.”
    And with that
invitation, she sashayed off the dance floor.
    ~ * ~
    Quincy remained
rooted to the dance floor. As resplendent couples twirled around him, the blood
in his veins pounded with such ferocious intensity, he thought his head would
burst from the pressure.
    Had the
audacious wench just disobeyed him and invited him to bed?
    His fingers
ticked, his cock stirred. He was going to cause a spectacle and ruin his brother’s
engagement ball.
    In swift
strides, Quincy stormed from the ballroom. He burst through the