Read Online My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth - Free Book Online Page B

natural and probably instinctive.”
    He slowly leaned toward her, his elbow on the table, chin in palm, now seemingly engrossed in her words.
    “Really? You know all of this?”
    She nodded with absolute assurance.
    “How learned you are, Caroline.”
    “I am.” She gave him a light, confident smile. “I realize you need a woman in your bed to satisfy the urges you feel. I’m very practical about these things and won’t be a bit jealous if you show any favors toward another.”
    “That’s very reasonable and generous of you, Caroline,” he slowly maintained. “But, to inherit, my son needs to be born legitimately.”
    Flushing, she ignored that issue and quickly looked back to her plate. “I just want you to know that I respect the fact that your desire for me is nothing more than lust you would feel for any woman.”
    He was quiet for a moment, watching her closely, for she could positively feel the warmth of his gaze, and after an awkward minute of silence she glanced at him again. He spoke when their eyes met.
    “You sound remarkably experienced, Caroline.”
    “I’m both experienced and knowledgeable,” she bravely contended. “I’ve seen many animals mate and I assure you that rutting isn’t all that pleasant for the female.”
    He dropped his arm to rest it beside the other atop the table and leaned very close to her—so close that she could see candlelight reflecting in his eyes.
    “Caroline, I’m going to promise you some things.”
    She stared at him, unblinking.
    “I promise,” he slowly began, “that I will never hurt you in any way. I promise I won’t ever take a mistress, or embarrass you in public or private by flirting with another woman, gently bred or common. I promise I will take you to my bed, and even if it takes three full days to arouse you to a frenzied peak, you will enjoy it. I promise you will carry and bear my legitimate child. I promise you will never have another lover in this lifetime. And finally, I promise, to the depths of my soul, I will never rut on you like a common bull.”
    With that he turned to his food.
    Caroline didn’t know whether she should lunge at him in rage or politely thank him for saying what were probably, to him, beautiful and honest words. Instead, she let the matter drop.
    They ate together in silence for a while, Caroline finding her food tasteless, he practically licking his plate clean. When finally he reached for seconds, he cut the tension in the air by blandly changing the subject.
    “So why didn’t you marry and settle down at a young age like your sisters?”
    She brushed over that and boldly asked, “Why didn’t you marry Pauline Sinclair?”
    He looked up sharply, momentarily startled, then grinned sardonically. “I thought Pauline would have made an adequate wife and a decent mother, and those were the only reasons I wanted to marry her. She, however, did not want me.”
    “Did you love her?”
    He snorted. “No.” With a sigh, he sat back and took a sip of his wine. “Now answer my question, little one.”
    Suddenly her curiosity about his life with Miss Sinclair was overshadowed by the nervousness she felt at revealing her deepest desires to her husband. But after the briefest hesitation, his attention fixed exclusively on her, waiting for a reply, she felt honesty was in order.
    “I long ago gave up my girlish dreams of romance and replaced them instead with dreams of being one of the world’s leading authorities on plant breeding.”
    His brows furrowed, and his expression grew cautious.
    Caroline lifted her chin, holding his gaze, certain that at any moment he would burst into laughter. She had nothing to lose now.
    “At one point my greatest desire was to study at Oxford under the direction of Sir Albert Markham.”
    That intrigued him immediately as he slowly leaned toward her.
    “I sent him some samples of my experiments, along with computations for the exact breeding of lavender roses to create the unique hue of