Read Online The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Regency Collection Book 1) by Ruth Ann Nordin - Free Book Online

porcupines.”
    Had she been sober and said that, he would have notified her that she made the strangest observations.  But since she was drunk and her breasts jiggled nicely when she laughed, he realized he didn’t think it was so strange after all.  At this point, he wanted nothing more than to take her to bed and get started on that heir.  But it’d be wrong.  He couldn’t take advantage of her when she was drunk, and it would ruin the nice moment they had when he saw that honest and sweet side of her.  That was the lady he wanted to make love to, not the one who had to get drunk to be with him.
    He went over to her, gently took the brush from her hand, and set it down.  “You need to go to bed.  Do you have anything to wear for bed?”
    She snuggled against him and giggled.  “I don’t wear anything at night.”
    Well, that was all he needed.  Now e very night he’d know she was in bed naked.  With a resigned sigh, he slipped his arm around her waist, trying not to take note of how soft her skin was or the way her curves pressed nicely against him.  They reached the bed and he helped her in, parts of her brushing his hands in a way that further aroused him.  So much for a good night’s sleep.
    He pulled the covers up to her chin.
    Her eyebrows furrowed.  “Aren’t you going to come into bed with me?”
    “No.”
    “But I drank the sherry.”
    “And you’ll be hurting tomorrow because of it.” He straightened up and blew out the candles.  “Sleep well.”
    Before she could respond, he grabbed the basin, decanter and glass and hurried out of the room so he wouldn’t give into the temptation to join her.

Chapter Six
     
    C laire stirred in bed.  Her first thought was that it’d all been a horrible dream and that she hadn’t married Roderick after all.  She thought she’d wake up in her parents’ house and laugh the whole thing off, and Lilly would applaud her for aspiring to marry a gentleman with a title.  And after they laughed it off, she’d get ready for a ball in hopes of finding a husband.
    She opened her eyes and winced at the bright light streaming in through the window.  She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.  Then she remembered the previous day.  The wedding with a very bitter Roderick, the fight she’d had with him when they arrived at his townhouse, the awkward dinner where neither of them spoke, and then…  And then…
    Forcing her eyes open, she rolled onto her side where a warm cup of tea was on the table by her bed.  She saw Marion come over to her side of the bed and pick up all of her clothes from the floor.  She never put her clothes on the floor like that.  She made it a habit of putting them in a chair.  Rubbing her head, she realized her hair was unkempt.  That wasn’t right either since she liked to brush her hair and weave it together so it wasn’t tangled in the morning.
    Everything was off about this morning, and th at could only mean one thing: she had been with her husband last night.  The problem was, she didn’t feel any different.  She didn’t know if she was supposed to, though.  She tried to remember what happened the previous night to get a better idea of what she should be experiencing right now.
    She recalled being unable to eat her dinner and leaving for her room, drag ging her feet along the way, dreading what was to come.  Marion had left the decanter of sherry as she promised.  Unsure of how much to drink, she decided Marion knew the right amount she’d need and drank everything in the decanter.  From there, things were blurred together.  She distinctly recalled Roderick being in the room.  Some of the images coming back to her didn’t make much sense, like why he’d been wiping something off the rug or why she thought she saw a porcupine when one couldn’t have been in the room.  But she did remember kissing him and him leading her to the bed.
    “How do you feel, my lady?” Marion whispered.
    Turning her gaze