Read Online Taming the Tycoon by Amy Andrews - Free Book Online

younger version of his grandmother, beamed. “Call me Delphine. I have some fresh clotted cream to go with them.”
    “Addie was named after a physicist,” Eunice said to her daughter as her sharp gaze continued unabated, making Nathaniel uncomfortably hot in the summer sunshine.
    His mother took up the staring gig as she, too, looked Addie over. “She’s not his usual type,” she mused.
    His grandmother nodded. “She lives on a canal boat.”
    Delphine looked at her son speculatively. “Really?”
    Nathaniel looked at both of them, utterly exasperated. “I think it was you who taught me it’s rude to stare, Mother?”
    She smiled. “Oh, sorry darling, yes.”
    Nathaniel didn’t think his mother sounded particularly contrite—his grandmother certainly wasn’t. She was still staring. “You’re reading again?” she asked.
    Nathaniel looked down at the book Addie had given him that he’d absently brought out of the car with him. It was clutched in his left hand, braced against the crutch. “Addie bought it for me.”
    Women had bought him a lot of things in the past but never a book. Cufflinks, cologne, expensive brandy, cigars. Lingerie.
    Now that was a gift he really appreciated. Especially if the woman in question had thought to get into it first and let him take his time unwrapping it.
    Once he’d even been bought a fish. He wasn’t sure how to feel about a book. All the other gifts had come with strings. Sexual strings. But not this one. It unsettled him to be given a gift with no ulterior motive attached.
    “Harry Potter,” his grandmother said, and he couldn’t help but note her reverential tone.
    “He always had his head stuck in a book as a boy,” his mother said wistfully to Addie. “Now he doesn’t—”
    “Have time?” Addie interrupted. She wrinkled her nose. “Such a shame.”
    Nathaniel watched as his nearest and dearest looked at Addie as if she had a shiny halo sitting atop her head.
    For crying out loud. “Perhaps we could move inside?” he said pointedly. He really did not want to stand here and listen to them compare notes on his perceived shortcomings.
    “Of course, dear,” his mother said. “How very rude. You must want to get off your poor leg. We’ll let you and Addie settle in upstairs and you can join us for scones shortly.”
    Nathaniel nodded, relieved to be off the hot seat. “You want Addie in the rose bedroom?” he asked.
    “Oh no, darling,” his grandmother interjected. “She’ll be in with you, of course.”
    Nathaniel felt time screech to halt around him. His heart pounded in his chest and his pulse roared through his ears. He looked at Addie, who blinked at him uncertainly through her big round sunglasses.
    “What about the rules?” he inquired through gritted teeth. “You’ve never let me share my room with a woman before.”
    “Yes, but…” his grandmother smiled at him the way she always had—like he hung the moon. “We didn’t like any of the others, darling.”
    And she took Addie’s hand and led her into the house.

Chapter Five
    Addie stood in the doorway, conscious of Nathaniel beside her as she stared at the large four-poster bed that dominated a room that was pretty damned generous itself. The cream lace canopy matched the cream lace curtains at the window. Afternoon sunlight streamed in, illuminating the plump snowy white quilt and matching pillows.
    It looked fluffy and beckoning—like a cloud—even if the images it evoked were nowhere near as innocent. Just picturing Nathaniel’s dark sexiness amongst all that white, his fallen angel mouth perfectly at home, was causing her pulse to trip a little.
    “Wow,” she said.
    “Indeed.” Nathaniel nodded.
    Addie’s belly clenched. “I didn’t bring any pajamas.”
    “I don’t own pajamas.”
    They both stared for a moment longer. Addie was grateful when Nathaniel limped into the room, crutches in hand. The bed was utterly entrancing—the kind that should be in all honeymoon