Read Online Tangled Past by Leah Braemel - Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t removed the top layer of skin. When he finally spoke, his voice was gruff. “Why do you think I regret being married to you?”
    “Because you said you wished I’d married Nate, not you. I thought if we gave ourselves some time we might suit, but you’re not even giving me a chance, are you?”
    His jaw dropped for a moment before he turned back to the ewer. With a soft curse, he tossed the washcloth in the bowl. “I meant you would have been better off with Nate instead of me. Not that I regret marryin’ you.”
    Before she could move, he’d crossed the floor and cupped his hand beneath her jaw. His touch was gentle, as if she were a bird or a delicate object he might break. “I would have liked to have done the deciding and askin’ myself instead of bein’ forced by McLeod to take marriage vows, I can’t deny it. But I’ll do my best to do right by you, you hear? I may not be able to build you as big a house or furnish it with things as fine as this one, but I’ll never regret that you’re my wife.”
    “Then stop apologizing for what you can’t give me.” She leaned her cheek into his palm. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t have much at Mr. McLeod’s home, either.”
    “You always call him Mr. McLeod. In all these years, he never let you call him Pa or Pop or some such?”
    She shook her head. “I’m the living reminder that his wife cuckolded him. Would you accept another man’s child as your own?”

    “I’d like to think I’d man up to my responsibilities. It ain’t the child’s fault who her parents are. Or aren’t.” His hand left her jaw to play with a tendril of hair that had fallen in her wild ride. “What about your mama? She must have loved you.”
    “She said she did. When no one was around, she used to call me her special gift.”
    Maybe he heard the sorrow in her voice, because he frowned and asked, “And when others were around?”
    Sarah dropped her gaze. “Then she’d say I was God’s way of punishing her for her sins.”
    Jackson cursed under his breath. “Given the way McLeod treated you, she was probably saying it to keep him happy. Miss Martha does that to keep her husband happy when he’s ornery.”
    Ornery. That described Mr. McLeod to a T. And Jackson was right, her mother loved her—when they were out of Josiah’s sight.
    Would she find herself resorting to such measures now she was married too?
    His brows drew even closer together. “I don’t want you doin’ that to me, you hear? Next time you have a problem with somethin’ I do, or somethin’ I say, you come out and tell me. I ain’t McLeod or Miss Martha’s Abner so you don’t have to worry about me hittin’ you or nothing. I promise.”
    “I won’t have to see Mr. McLeod again. Will I?”
    He shook his head, his expression softer somehow. “Not unless you want to.”
    “I don’t.”
    “Then that’s settled. You’re mine. All mine.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. Her eyes fluttered closed as the heat in her belly spread upward. And lower. Surely he could hear her heart thumping against her ribs or knew how her blood raced so close to the surface.
    With deft fingers, he unbuttoned her bodice and spread the fabric wide. She sucked in a breath when he unhooked her corset and pulled it from her.
    “I thought I told you not to wear one of those while we were riding.”
    “I didn’t know who I’d be meeting when we arrived. I wanted to make a good impression.”
    “Aw, darlin’, any person who judges you by what undergarments you wear ain’t worth worryin’ about.”
    When his hand cupped her breast, she leaned into him with a soft sigh. He deepened the kiss, parting her lips with his tongue. It had been strange the first time he’d done it, but she’d found she enjoyed it. Especially when he kissed her like that at the same time he played with her breast.
    She leaned full against him by the time he broke off the kiss.
    “I’m thinking maybe you