Read Online The Virgin of Clan Sinclair by Karen Ranney - Free Book Online
Authors: Karen Ranney
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her. Every glance and knowing smile made her want to surrender completely.
She widened her legs.
“More,” she said softly.
His hands slid around her thighs to cup her buttocks and lift her for his mouth.
Ross stood and walked to the other side of the room, turning to stare at the pages spread across the end of the bed.
What the hell had she written?
His face was warm, his trousers too tight, and he couldn’t reconcile the voluble girl in the stables with the author of that book.
Worse, he wanted to go back and read the rest and finish every damn page.
The hero looked like him.
Gray eyes weren’t all that common. Only his father had possessed them in his family. The man’s good looks no doubt played a small role in his lechery, in addition to his fortune and title.
Ross was tall and his face narrow.
What other similarities were there?
He told himself it was for research alone that he grabbed the pages, sat at the desk, and began to read from page one.
H ow could she possibly sleep?
Ellice lay on her bed, staring up at the tester over her head. Her mother had spent the last few hours with her, Enid’s fondness for Virginia keeping her pacing. Ellice knew she would have liked to be with Virginia, but Brianag was queen in the sickroom and had refused admittance to anyone other than Macrath.
More than one maid walked the corridor, moving past Ellice’s room with halting feet. A cloud hung over Drumvagen, and it was centered on the master’s suite.
Galelike winds punched the windows, as if nature were insane with fury over the fate of such a good woman. Thunder shouted in the clouds above, the sound reverberating repeatedly until it was in her brain.
God was as miserable as the rest of the inhabitants of Drumvagen.
She got out of bed and knelt beside it, pressing her forehead against the mattress.
If she had anything at all, it was because of Virginia. When she and her mother needed a home, Virginia had provided one. When she needed a private place, Virginia had let her use the cottage. When she was at the end of her tolerance with her mother, Virginia had listened, sharing her humor and compassion. When she was sad, sometimes talking about London with Virginia eased the worst of the ache.
Now, Virginia lay abed, ten hours into a difficult labor, one rendering Brianag uncharacteristically silent.
Please, God, spare her. Is it always women’s lot to die in childbirth? I don’t understand how such a good person as Virginia could be taken from us. Who would mother her children?
God was probably going to extend a celestial finger through the clouds, His nail lit by an unearthly light.
You would challenge me, child? Would you tell me how to create the animals in the forest, the fish in the sea? Have you no respect for your God?
How odd that the god of her imagination sounded like her mother.
Sleep was not going to come tonight.
She stood, went to the armoire and selected another blue dress, this one with a plain blue collar and cuffs. She didn’t care about her appearance. Who would see her, the very annoying Earl of Gadsden?
She’d seen the look on his face when the maid appeared at Macrath’s door. The man had looked startled, then abruptly distant, as if giving birth to a child was an abhorrent act, one that offended him.
He was probably deeply asleep. Her eyes widened. He was probably deeply asleep, just the time for her to retrieve her book.
A s a careful man, Ross limited his acquaintances to those who were reputable. He was never seen in circumstances that would give voice to speculation as to his intentions or his motives.
But as he put down the last page of Ellice’s manuscript, he realized he’d been caught. Over the years, he’d learned to conquer the personal shame of his circumstances. Embarrassment, however, was a close cousin, and now it sat heavily on his shoulders.
He shouldn’t have read the book. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t now be perched on the edge of a
She widened her legs.
“More,” she said softly.
His hands slid around her thighs to cup her buttocks and lift her for his mouth.
Ross stood and walked to the other side of the room, turning to stare at the pages spread across the end of the bed.
What the hell had she written?
His face was warm, his trousers too tight, and he couldn’t reconcile the voluble girl in the stables with the author of that book.
Worse, he wanted to go back and read the rest and finish every damn page.
The hero looked like him.
Gray eyes weren’t all that common. Only his father had possessed them in his family. The man’s good looks no doubt played a small role in his lechery, in addition to his fortune and title.
Ross was tall and his face narrow.
What other similarities were there?
He told himself it was for research alone that he grabbed the pages, sat at the desk, and began to read from page one.
H ow could she possibly sleep?
Ellice lay on her bed, staring up at the tester over her head. Her mother had spent the last few hours with her, Enid’s fondness for Virginia keeping her pacing. Ellice knew she would have liked to be with Virginia, but Brianag was queen in the sickroom and had refused admittance to anyone other than Macrath.
More than one maid walked the corridor, moving past Ellice’s room with halting feet. A cloud hung over Drumvagen, and it was centered on the master’s suite.
Galelike winds punched the windows, as if nature were insane with fury over the fate of such a good woman. Thunder shouted in the clouds above, the sound reverberating repeatedly until it was in her brain.
God was as miserable as the rest of the inhabitants of Drumvagen.
She got out of bed and knelt beside it, pressing her forehead against the mattress.
If she had anything at all, it was because of Virginia. When she and her mother needed a home, Virginia had provided one. When she needed a private place, Virginia had let her use the cottage. When she was at the end of her tolerance with her mother, Virginia had listened, sharing her humor and compassion. When she was sad, sometimes talking about London with Virginia eased the worst of the ache.
Now, Virginia lay abed, ten hours into a difficult labor, one rendering Brianag uncharacteristically silent.
Please, God, spare her. Is it always women’s lot to die in childbirth? I don’t understand how such a good person as Virginia could be taken from us. Who would mother her children?
God was probably going to extend a celestial finger through the clouds, His nail lit by an unearthly light.
You would challenge me, child? Would you tell me how to create the animals in the forest, the fish in the sea? Have you no respect for your God?
How odd that the god of her imagination sounded like her mother.
Sleep was not going to come tonight.
She stood, went to the armoire and selected another blue dress, this one with a plain blue collar and cuffs. She didn’t care about her appearance. Who would see her, the very annoying Earl of Gadsden?
She’d seen the look on his face when the maid appeared at Macrath’s door. The man had looked startled, then abruptly distant, as if giving birth to a child was an abhorrent act, one that offended him.
He was probably deeply asleep. Her eyes widened. He was probably deeply asleep, just the time for her to retrieve her book.
A s a careful man, Ross limited his acquaintances to those who were reputable. He was never seen in circumstances that would give voice to speculation as to his intentions or his motives.
But as he put down the last page of Ellice’s manuscript, he realized he’d been caught. Over the years, he’d learned to conquer the personal shame of his circumstances. Embarrassment, however, was a close cousin, and now it sat heavily on his shoulders.
He shouldn’t have read the book. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t now be perched on the edge of a
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