Read Online Stolen Little Thing (Little Thing Series Book 1) by Sasha Gold - Free Book Online
Authors: Sasha Gold
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and me, the devil you haven’t known for a long time.”
Seeing her distress, he added quietly, with an air of ceremony, “You have to know how I feel about you, Esme. How could you not?”
There, he’d said it, he thought. He bared his heart to her. While it wasn’t exactly poetry, she should figure out from that statement that he’d always loved her. Did he need to spell out that there’d never been anyone else that he wanted, needed or dreamt about like her, his sweet Esme? She didn’t look at all convinced by his words. They were words he had never uttered to another woman in his life, and yet they had little effect on her. If anything, she appeared to be regarding him with the same misgivings.
“Say yes, Esme.” He took her hand and kissed it. “You would be better off with me here in Honey Creek than you would be back in San Antonio. Besides, you can barely keep your hands off me.”
“You should talk!” She tried to duck away from him, but he grasped her waist. He nuzzled her neck.
“Say yes, Esme,” he whispered. Desire shivered up her spine. If the boys hadn’t been just a few steps away, she might have wrapped her arms around his neck. Instead she pushed his hands away from her.
“I need to think it over.” She tried to regain her composure. When she had been just a girl, his self-assurance, his directness made her feel cared for, but now it didn’t feel quite so comforting. He was giving her a mandate, or that was what it felt like. He gave her orders and manipulated her with his touch. A touch that made her hunger for more of him.
Gazing at him in the moonlight, she found herself drawn to him as strongly as ever before. If she took away his arrogance, subtracted his bossiness, and looked at him anew, she had no trouble seeing that he added up to exactly what she had always wanted.
“I need to sleep on it,” she said, her eyes wide with innocence. She knew her answer, had known it from the moment he’d uttered the proposal, but it would serve him right to think that she needed to consider the options and contingencies. He was just a trifle too self-assured, a little too certain that she would snap up his offer.
Luke’s gaze drifted from her eyes to her mouth. “Fine, while you’re thinking about it, I’ll write Randolph a letter, and tell him to bring my check when he comes. I’d like to get Henry a pretty little buckskin.”
“Oh, all right then.”
The sound of a belch echoed down the hallway. Low, deep and prolonged, it was greeted with a round of applause.
Luke grinned. “Sounds as if the circus troop has already moved on to dessert. They’re having the burping contest to see who gets the biggest piece.”
“How charming.” Esme swept past him.
He followed a few paces behind, his gaze drawn to the nape of her neck appealingly bared beneath a tight chignon. “I’m sorry they started without me,” he said. “I’m used to winning that biggest piece. You’re not planning on giving me any competition, are you Miss Duval?”
Before entering the dining room, Esme paused and gazed over her shoulder. “I’m tired of getting the smallest piece, or worse, none at all. I plan on giving you a run for your money every chance I get, Mr. Crosby.”
Chapter Five
Chattering with excitement, dresses heaped in their arms, Loretta and Maria invaded Esme’s room the next morning in the pre-dawn hours. They roused her from bed and told her there wasn’t a minute to spare. Esme wasn’t allowed to go down for breakfast for fear she would be seen by her groom. Her bath was tepid and rushed. The two women were not to be reasoned with; they were battlefield generals planning every detail of the impending campaign.
Loretta and Maria scrutinized the dress Esme wore, the third she tried on, circling her like cattle bidders at an auction. The dress was a mother-of-pearl debutante dress, one that had belonged to Maria’s youngest daughter. Perched on a wooden crate, Esme tried her
Seeing her distress, he added quietly, with an air of ceremony, “You have to know how I feel about you, Esme. How could you not?”
There, he’d said it, he thought. He bared his heart to her. While it wasn’t exactly poetry, she should figure out from that statement that he’d always loved her. Did he need to spell out that there’d never been anyone else that he wanted, needed or dreamt about like her, his sweet Esme? She didn’t look at all convinced by his words. They were words he had never uttered to another woman in his life, and yet they had little effect on her. If anything, she appeared to be regarding him with the same misgivings.
“Say yes, Esme.” He took her hand and kissed it. “You would be better off with me here in Honey Creek than you would be back in San Antonio. Besides, you can barely keep your hands off me.”
“You should talk!” She tried to duck away from him, but he grasped her waist. He nuzzled her neck.
“Say yes, Esme,” he whispered. Desire shivered up her spine. If the boys hadn’t been just a few steps away, she might have wrapped her arms around his neck. Instead she pushed his hands away from her.
“I need to think it over.” She tried to regain her composure. When she had been just a girl, his self-assurance, his directness made her feel cared for, but now it didn’t feel quite so comforting. He was giving her a mandate, or that was what it felt like. He gave her orders and manipulated her with his touch. A touch that made her hunger for more of him.
Gazing at him in the moonlight, she found herself drawn to him as strongly as ever before. If she took away his arrogance, subtracted his bossiness, and looked at him anew, she had no trouble seeing that he added up to exactly what she had always wanted.
“I need to sleep on it,” she said, her eyes wide with innocence. She knew her answer, had known it from the moment he’d uttered the proposal, but it would serve him right to think that she needed to consider the options and contingencies. He was just a trifle too self-assured, a little too certain that she would snap up his offer.
Luke’s gaze drifted from her eyes to her mouth. “Fine, while you’re thinking about it, I’ll write Randolph a letter, and tell him to bring my check when he comes. I’d like to get Henry a pretty little buckskin.”
“Oh, all right then.”
The sound of a belch echoed down the hallway. Low, deep and prolonged, it was greeted with a round of applause.
Luke grinned. “Sounds as if the circus troop has already moved on to dessert. They’re having the burping contest to see who gets the biggest piece.”
“How charming.” Esme swept past him.
He followed a few paces behind, his gaze drawn to the nape of her neck appealingly bared beneath a tight chignon. “I’m sorry they started without me,” he said. “I’m used to winning that biggest piece. You’re not planning on giving me any competition, are you Miss Duval?”
Before entering the dining room, Esme paused and gazed over her shoulder. “I’m tired of getting the smallest piece, or worse, none at all. I plan on giving you a run for your money every chance I get, Mr. Crosby.”
Chapter Five
Chattering with excitement, dresses heaped in their arms, Loretta and Maria invaded Esme’s room the next morning in the pre-dawn hours. They roused her from bed and told her there wasn’t a minute to spare. Esme wasn’t allowed to go down for breakfast for fear she would be seen by her groom. Her bath was tepid and rushed. The two women were not to be reasoned with; they were battlefield generals planning every detail of the impending campaign.
Loretta and Maria scrutinized the dress Esme wore, the third she tried on, circling her like cattle bidders at an auction. The dress was a mother-of-pearl debutante dress, one that had belonged to Maria’s youngest daughter. Perched on a wooden crate, Esme tried her
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