Read Online Substitute Bride (Beaufort Brides Book 2) by Noelle Adams - Free Book Online Page B

said, a little sharply. “I’ve felt all kinds of things that you have
no idea about.”
    “Is that right?” He was smiling again, pushing her hair back
again since it had fallen forward into her face once more. “What kinds of
things have you been feeling all this time?”
    Her heart was racing now, and she couldn’t seem to take a
full breath. He’d never acted like this with her before, but that didn’t mean
that it was serious, that it meant something.
    He was in a strange mood, and people did a lot of things
they didn’t mean when they were in strange moods.
    “That’s none of your business. All I meant was that you
can’t possibly know everything I feel just by my face. I don’t give away
everything.”
    “You give away a lot. Either you blush or you lower your
eyes or you let a little dimple right here show.” His finger brushed the side
of her mouth, very softly, making little shivers of pleasure run up and down
Rose’s spine. “Your face is very easy to read.”
    “I don’t think it’s as easy as you think,” she insisted.
“For instance, what do you think I’m feeling right now?”
    “I think you’re self-conscious that I’ve seen through you so
easily.”
    “See, you’re wrong! That’s not what I’m feeling.” She gave
him a cold glare. “I actually want to shake that smug smile off your face.”
    She couldn’t believe she’d actually said those words out
loud, even half-teasing as she was. She held her breath until James burst into
warm laughter, dropping his hand back beside him on the cushion.
    “I guess you told me,” he said, reaching to turn the
television to a cable news channel.
    Rose leaned back to watch the news too, since she was too
keyed up right now to sleep. “I guess I did.”
    He was still smiling, even as he focused on the television,
and Rose was intently aware that she was still smiling too.
    ***
    Rose stayed downstairs watching the
news for a long time. Too long.
    She kept telling herself she’d go upstairs at the next
commercial break, but she never did. James didn’t leave either, so she kept
thinking she didn’t want to be rude and leave before he was ready.
    The truth was she just didn’t want to leave him—at all.
    So she ended up staying far too long. She knew it was too
long because she fell asleep on the couch.
    She wasn’t aware of falling asleep, of course. Not until she
started to wake up.
    When she woke up, her cheek was pressed against James’s
shirt.
    She blinked, trying to make her mind work, and she shifted
slightly, wondering what the big, hard, hot thing against her was.
    It was James’s body, and the heavy thing around her was his
arm.
    She’d fallen asleep on top of him.
    She tried to pull back, but his arm resisted the move, and
he made a few wordless mutters. That was when she realized he was asleep as
well.
    One of her hands was pressed against his chest, and she
instinctively moved it down, feeling the firm line of his belly and loving the
feel of it.
    She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt a man like
this. Maybe never.
    She was warm and content and incredibly comfortable, and she
didn’t want to move. But she really needed to. It would be brutally
embarrassing if he were to wake up and discover he was sleeping with his nanny.
    She tried again to pull back, and this time his arm shifted.
He mumbled again, but his eyes were closed when she sat up enough to look at
him.
    He looked relaxed and far younger than he normally looked
with his eyes closed. He desperately needed to shave and his dress shirt was
hopelessly wrinkled.
    Her eyes dropped down even lower, and she saw something
there. There was a definite bulge in the front of his trousers.
    She smothered a gasp and stood up, straightening her clothes
and walking out of the room quickly, leaving James sleeping on the couch.
    The erection obviously didn’t mean anything, except he was a
man who was still in the prime of life.
    But it made Rose think about sex.