A Scoundrel's Surrender Read Online Free Page A

voice, including censure.
    Still, Caleb couldn’t help but wonder if Tessa had been hurt by his silence. He simply hadn’t been able to think of a way to address her without saying too much or being too glib. Silence had been a poor way to solve that problem.
    Caleb shook his head. The issue of his family was a complicated one, even in the face of his decision to move on from the truth and pretend it mattered little to him. That would be a thorny task with all of them staring him in the face. Seeing his mother, especially, would be difficult. Her actions had caused all this strife and there was some part of him that longed to confront her about that fact.
    â€œYou’ll do fine,” Justin said softly, as if he read Caleb’s mind. “I’ll be there at your side and will do everything in my power to assist you.”
    Caleb met Justin’s eyes for a moment and smiled. “You already have. Thank you again for allowing me to stay with you. I had no idea my town home had gone into such disrepair during my absence.”
    â€œI have no idea why that would be a shock to you! You haven’t taken care of the place for years.”
    Justin laughed, perhaps the first true sound of it since Caleb had turned and found him searching the tavern three days ago. It was a strangely contagious thing and Caleb grinned in return.
    â€œI suppose. There is much I shall have to set to rights now that I’m here. And it allows me a chance to spend the money you’ll surely give me in order to make the place livable again.”
    Justin rolled his eyes, but before his brother could answer, there was the sound of movement in the hallway. Doors opened and shut, and in the distance Justin’s butler, Crenshaw, spoke in low tones.
    Justin was on his feet in a moment and Caleb couldn’t help but stare. His normally dark and dangerous brother had just lit up like a candle glowed within him.
    â€œVictoria,” Justin breathed before he turned and hurried from the room without further explanation.
    Caleb followed, but moved with purposeful slowness. He wanted to allow the couple a moment to reunite before he interfered. He stepped into the hallway. At the end of it, in the foyer, his brother held his wife. The two were kissing in greeting and Caleb turned his face as a flash of unexpected jealousy filled him.
    It wasn’t that he had any feeling toward Victoria. She was a beautiful woman, to be sure, but he’d never experienced anything more than brotherly regard for her. No, it was that Justin seemed so settled now. So happy with his wife and the life they had built together after resolving the many problems that had once plagued their union.
    It was something Caleb had never experienced before and somehow thought he never would. There was but one woman who had offered Caleb such acceptance, and he had thrown her away in his grief and upset. All the better for her, probably.
    He shook off thoughts of Marah. What he wanted now was frivolity and fun. He had no intention of seeking out more from a woman but carnal pleasure. It had been a long time since he indulged in such bliss.
    In that moment, the happy couple parted, and behind them Caleb saw what their embrace had hidden. Victoria was home, but she wasn’t alone. Standing at a distance was the very woman Caleb had been contemplating. A woman he hadn’t seen since he slipped into the night two years before.
    Marah Farnsworth.
    She hadn’t yet noticed him as she stepped forward to greet Justin, so Caleb took the opportunity to drink in the sight of her. She was more beautiful than ever. Her blond locks were bound up beneath a traveling bonnet, but the curling length peeked out beneath the brim, appearing as soft and touchable as they had always been. And her eyes, those dark blue eyes that had offered him solace and understanding, sparkled as she smiled in greeting at her friend’s husband.
    Time hadn’t changed