Read Online Listed: Volume II by Noelle Adams - Free Book Online

I’d never be
able to get a woman like you.”
    Emily
straightened up, one of her hands fisting in his jacket lapel. “That’s
ridiculous. I appreciate your attempt to boost my ego, but you have to be
somewhat realistic in the exaggeration for it to work.”
    He
ignored her light irony and shook his head. “It’s the truth. Everywhere I
looked, some other guy was leering at my wife. Honestly, I found it rather
obnoxious.”
    If
it hadn’t been for the faintly aggrieved tone of his last words, she wouldn’t
have believed him, but he seemed to be telling the truth. She gave a little
giggle, just an overflow of too much emotion, and nestled back under Paul’s
arm.
    They
were almost to the theater when Paul murmured, without any segue, “Not even
once have I wanted to cheat on you.”
    A
swell of relief and affection rose in her throat. She knew they weren’t in love
and that the marriage was mostly a sham. She knew, after she died, he would go
back to pursuing the women he really wanted. But she still would have hated for
her husband to be having lecherous thoughts about other women while she was
around.
    All
she said was, “Good. Me either.”
    *
* *
    Paul dropped his light,
charming demeanor like the façade it always was. When they went into the
theater, he didn’t tell her any funny stories or give her any pretty
compliments. He was quiet at first. Then he was annoyed because there was some
sort of mix-up with their tickets and it took a couple of minutes to sort it
out.
    Then
he started telling her about the English history leading up to the events of
the play, and he got wrapped up in the explanation with an intensity that made
otherwise boring details absolutely fascinating. Then, during the intermission,
when Emily was feeling tired and kind of achy, he peered at her with concerned
scrutiny and put a hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
    All
of it was Paul . And Emily liked all of it—the quietness, the grumpiness,
the intensity, the concern—better than when he had been light and charming.
    The
play was amazing, and they got back to the hotel very late. Emily had to
conclude, despite the minor emotional upheavals, it had been a very good day.
Plus, they were flying to Egypt tomorrow.
    She
was absolutely exhausted, and she was feeling even more achy than before,
probably because they'd done so much today. So she took a couple of Tylenol and
went to bed.
    ***
    Emily was so achy she
could barely force herself out of bed the next morning.
    She
sat on the side of the mattress, trying to catch her breath and assess her
condition. Her whole body hurt, and she felt hot and clammy at the same time.
She drank several gulps of water from the bottle at her bedside. After a
minute, she convinced herself that she was just tired and sore from the long
day of shopping and sightseeing yesterday.
    Today
she was going to Egypt. She only had a very small window of time to do
everything on her list, and she wasn’t going to miss one of the things she was
most excited about.
    So
she managed to shower and dress, although she had to sit down for a few minutes
to recover afterwards. Her head was throbbing now, and she had started to
shiver a little, but she was finally able to rouse herself enough to leave her
bedroom and head into the parlor of their suite.
    Naturally,
Paul was already up, looking cool and attractive. He was working at the desk on
his laptop and had probably been up for a while.
    The
effort it took to get dressed and walk into the parlor had made Emily a little
dizzy, but she gave him as cheerful a good-morning as she could manage.
    Paul
looked up and smiled at her in a way she liked—a quiet smile but one that felt
real. “How are you?”
    Consecutive
waves of hot and cold prompted a sudden feeling of panic. She forced out,
“Fine,” and walked over to the room service cart where she always got her
coffee.
    The
scent of coffee hit her nose and made her feel ill. Heat seemed to pulse out of
the