Seducing the Groom Read Online Free Page A

leaving Ellen to cope with the ordeal alone—as every bride had to do.
    She went to the dressing room that divided the two principal bedchambers of the residence, even though it was an area she had no right to occupy. Stephen had tried his level best to keep her at a distance. Without asking her opinion, he’d relocated her accommodations to the other end of the hall, but it was a plan with which she had no intention of complying.
    Her husband was about to learn a distressing fact about his wife. She was her father’s daughter in all ways.
    Because she was too intelligent, strong-willed, and stubborn, she’d kept her tenacity prudently concealed from her spousal candidates. She’d wanted them to be complacent, to deem her tractable and meek, but she’d been raised to prevail and flourish as enthusiastically as her father had.
    Years earlier, he’d been wrongfully convicted of theft. Then, in chains, he’d been transported from his beloved England. Disgraced, he’d journeyed to the New World. There, he’d toiled unbearably, never losing sight of his goals or objectives, and he’d ultimately thrived far beyond anyone’s expectations.
    Ellen had acquired perseverance from studying him and, occasionally, she fancied herself to be more determined than he could ever be. She’d wanted Stephen and now she had him. Despite his blunt insistence that they would have a platonic marriage, her aim was deflowerment. Immediately.
    After he’d proposed, she’d cordially listened to his drivel as to how he didn’t want to wed, and she’d patiently suffered through his contention that he felt no compunction to execute his noble responsibility to his family and line by siring any children. Unfortunately for him, she wanted a houseful, as well as a loving husband to govern over the large flock she anticipated having.
    Stephen was going to be that man. He just didn’t realize it yet.
    Anxious, but brimming with undaunted resolve, she stood next to the bathing tub that Alice had obligingly prepared. Insolently, she turned her back, pretending to tarry, waiting with bated breath, as he stomped into his bedchamber and cast about for the cloak and hat he’d had to retrieve—since she’d lugged them all upstairs in furtherance of her scheme.
    She was so attuned to him she could feel his movements beyond the wall, could discern the moment he saw her, and she stiffened, her pulse hammering in her chest, her senses festering and overloaded.
    Lord, give me strength , she silently prayed.
    Steeling herself, her hands shaky and her knees weak, she untied the bow that bound the front of her robe, and it slid to the floor.
    * * * *
    Stephen frowned. Could it be?
    A light emanated from his dressing room. The door was ajar, and he got a whiff of warm water scented with rose oil.
    The smaller room adjoined the next bedchamber, the one that would have belonged to the viscountess had his and Ellen’s been a true marriage, but she couldn’t be in it. As he hadn’t wanted her to misconstrue proximity, he’d specifically advised her to put her possessions in the suite at the other end of the hall.
    She wouldn’t have flagrantly ignored his wishes as to where her apartment was to be. Would she?
    Like the worst voyeur, he tiptoed to the door and peeked inside.
    It was Ellen! Taking off her clothes and preparing for her bath! She’d had his tub filled with steamy water. Towels and soaps had been laid out on a stood next to it. Facing the dressing table, her back to him, she slowly stripped, though there weren’t many pieces to shed.
    She removed her robe, easing it off so that it slid down and pooled in a pile of green silk at her ankles. Then the negligee followed. Almost as if she knew he was watching, as if she’d planned to torment and tease his male sensibilities, she worked the narrow straps down, over her breast, her hips, then she slithered this way and that. The garment undulated, then whooshed past her buttocks, her legs.
    He