His Silken Seduction Read Online Free

pure, unquenchable desire. And he was beginning to suspect that she might be feeling it, too.
    For long minutes, neither of them moved. Ben feasted his gaze on her, seeing for the first time how the tiny tendrils of fine fair hair escaped to curl at her temples and caress her porcelain skin. Her eyelashes were thick and surprisingly dark. They rested on her blushing cheeks like downy feathers, waiting to be blown away by the whim of the breeze…or by the breath of a lover’s kiss. Ben raised his lips from her palm and strained forward, as if drawn by an invisible thread. He was going to kiss…
    Her eyes flew open. She was shocked. Her lips worked as if she were saying his name, but there was no sound. And then she turned her head away.
    The moment was over. The thread was broken. Ben gently returned her hand to her lap, resisting the temptation to allow himself a last caress. His body was now raging with desire. If Suzanne were aware of even half of what he was feeling, she would flee from him in horror. She was an innocent girl, after all, untutored in the base lusts of men.
    “Tell me what happened today, Suzanne. Why are you upset?” When she said nothing, Ben knew it was time to insist. “What has happened to your sister?”
    Suzanne remained tense and still for several seconds. Then she crumpled. Her shoulders slumped, her hands went to cover her face, and soon her whole body was shaking with convulsive sobs.
    Ben reached out his hand, but let it drop again before it could touch her shoulder. She needed his advice and counsel. Feeding his rampaging lust even further would be of no help at all.
    Her weeping stopped almost at once. She was fumbling in her pocket. Ben reached under his pillow for his own clean handkerchief and pushed it into her fingers.
    She raised her head, surprised. “Thank you.” Her voice was barely a whisper. She wiped her reddened eyes and then blew her nose hard. She had begun to shake her head, in disbelief at her own weakness, Ben decided. Or was it in rejection of him?
    She straightened her shoulders and looked at Ben. The handkerchief was a screwed-up ball in her clenched fingers. “There is nothing that you, or any of us, can do,” she began in a lifeless voice. “Marguerite sent back the trunk of silks from Paris since she could not sell any there. The trunk was broken open on the way.”
    “The silks have been stolen?” Ben knew the damage such a loss would do. The family needed every sou that the sale of their wares could bring. Marguerite had been foolhardy to entrust her silks to a carrier in such dangerous times.
    “No. Nothing is missing.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t understand.” He frowned a little and would have touched her if he dared, to show her the depth of his concern. But that was out of the question, for his body would go up in flames.
    “No, how could you?” She sounded strange, as if she were talking to someone else, someone invisible. “The trunk has two keys. Marguerite carries one when she travels. The other is kept here. That way, if the trunk must be sent by carrier, we can be sure that its contents have not been tampered with.”
    This was all extremely odd. Had she not said, just a moment ago, that none of the precious fabrics had been stolen?
    Before he could say a word, Suzanne continued in that same thready voice. “They broke open the trunk, but they took nothing. What they wanted was Marguerite’s letter. They broke into that, too.”
    Ben’s heart began to beat very fast. Now he did understand. What on earth had possessed Marguerite to enclose a letter? And what was Jack about, to allow her to do such a thing? One indiscreet word could be the death of them all. They would…
    His logical mind reasserted itself. There was a strange mystery here. “How do you know there was a letter, Suzanne?”
    Her hand went to the bosom of her plain muslin gown. “It was still in the trunk. But the seal was broken. I fear we are lost.”
    Ben smiled