Read Online Recklessly Yours by Allison Chase - Free Book Online

Then again, if Cates had had any true feelings for Sabrina, he would have shown some patience rather than proposing so readily to another woman. Colin found the man’s behavior all too telling . . . but Sabrina wouldn’t see it that way. Not yet, while she was still hurting.
    Instead, she seemed intent on pressing her advantage with information Colin had months ago predicted he would have cause to regret. At Ivy and Simon’s wedding, his astute sister had quietly studied him, noting his every movement and expression, until, satisfied she had guessed the truth, she had confronted him with a shrewd smirk.
    Why, brother, it appears you are quite taken with the new Lady Harrow’s sister. A former shopkeeper, no less.
    Don’t be ridiculous.
    Oh, but your scowl tells all. You like her, but you don’t wish to like her. . . .
    It had been the red hair that had first caught his notice. He had always loved thick, fiery curls, and Miss Sutherland possessed those in abundance. He’d never forget that morning soon after the wedding when he, Simon, Ivy, and Miss Sutherland had gone out riding together at Simon’s Cambridge estate. Miss Sutherland’s cap had gone flying off and her hair had tumbled down her back. . . .
    Whether she’d noticed or not, she’d kept riding, urging her mount faster until she had opened a substantial distance between herself and the others. Worried for her safety and leaving Simon and Ivy behind, Colin had spurred his mount to catch up, only to discover her completely in control and barely winded from her gallop. When they’d finally stopped beside the river to rest the horses, she’d turned to him with laughter spilling from her generous lips, joy glittering in her verdant eyes, and her wind-tossed curls dancing like flames about her rosy cheeks.
    To this day he didn’t know if it had been the red hair, the laughter, or the realization that here was a woman unafraid to express her delight. What a refreshing departure from the icy debutants the society matrons forever tossed in his path, prudish young women who wanted him for his future title and fortune and little else.
    That day, he had discovered countless tiny details about Miss Sutherland that he liked—liked exceedingly well. But that hadn’t stopped a single, formidable obstacle from standing between them.
    He was the Duke of Masterfield’s son, and from an early age he’d known it was his duty to marry an heiress, a woman who would bring land and further wealth to augment the Ashworth holdings.
    More important to Colin, he was Thaddeus Ashworth’s son. He bore a scar or two to prove it, and there was no way in hell he’d ever bring an innocent, ingenuous woman like Holly Sutherland within arm’s length of a man like his father.

Chapter 6
    â€œW illow, Ivy, are you ready to leave? The carriage is waiting out front.”
    â€œI’m coming,” Willow called from the bedroom she shared with Holly.
    Holly stood at the front window of their suite, holding the curtain aside and peering down. Yesterday, her visit to the Ascot Racecourse had yielded a prize: an invitation, for her and her sisters, to Masterfield Park, the Ashworths’ nearby estate and stud farm. The invitation had come from Lady Sabrina, and while her brother had readily echoed his sister’s sentiments that the Sutherlands must come on the morrow, a reservation had darkened his bright eyes.
    â€œOne more moment,” came Ivy’s delayed and distracted reply from the other room. With a sudden concern, Holly hurried into her bedchamber, where Ivy sat hunched at the dressing table.
    â€œAre you feeling ill again?”
    Ivy shook her head. The quill she held made scratching noises on the paper in front of her. “I’m just finishing a letter to Simon so I can get it in this morning’s post.”
    â€œYou haven’t been gone two full days yet. What can you possibly have to